Echo Six: Black Ops 4 - Chechen Massacre (4 page)

"Heinrich, the ROEs, take it easy with that gun. We don’t yet know who we’re shooting at."

The German’s eyes slid to the pile of bodies he’d just killed.

"They were shooting at us, so they’re hostiles. Is there a problem with killing the enemy?" His voice was angry.

"None, you did the right thing, but there could be civilians up there, women and children."

He nodded his understanding, his face serious. "Ach, ja! It would be good propaganda for the Taliban if we killed them. I will be careful."

Talley wondered would he ever understand. The German was almost a throwback to the barbarians who'd slaughtered the Roman Legions in their tens of thousands when they’d dared to venture into the dripping forests the savage tribes called home. They were legendary fighters who would kill anyone who dared cross their path, including an entire Roman Legion, wiped out to the last man. Cruel fighters. Men like Buchmann; warriors, born and bred from birth to kill in orgies of brutal, bloody slaughter.

He grinned to himself and put the problems of Heinrich Buchman on the back burner. The men were bringing out the prisoners, each accompanied by an Echo Six trooper. The going was difficult. The explosion had smacked into the prisoners’ weakened bodies. He sighed. There just hadn’t been another way. Guy gestured to the shambling group to wait, jogging forward so he could speak without them overhearing.

"The blast hit them hard, Boss. Two of them have internal injuries, and I’m talking real serious. I guess their bodies were just too sick and weak to withstand the shock. I’m not sure they’re going to make it. They could even hold us all up, and stop us getting the others out. What you want…"

Before he could finish, they heard more gunfire, and the sound of two grenades exploding in quick succession. Buchmann. He turned to his number two.

"Heinrich just ran into trouble. I want you to come with me and deal with it. The rest of you, move.”

He swept his eyes over the men who were helping the POWs.

“Get those men out of these caves and into the fresh air as fast as you can. As soon as we've finished here, I'll call in a Medevac helo. In the meantime, let me make one thing clear. Every man gets out of here. We don't leave anyone behind. No one."

He turned back to Guy. "Let's go. If we're going to get those prisoners away, we'll need to clear out the opposition."

He started running toward the gunfire. Guy called softly from behind him.

"I'm sorry, Boss. I wouldn't leave anyone behind. It's just…"

"I know all the arguments, but those poor guys deserve a chance, and besides, I've never left a man behind in my life, and I'm not about to start now, end of discussion. Let's go kill some Taliban."

"Copy that."

Hermann and another trooper were defending the fork in the tunnel, shooting back at a hurricane of gunfire from further inside the cave system. The German gave him a curt nod.

"It'll be hard to hold them here. I sent the other man to bring up the Minimis. We'll need machine guns to hold them back. When they counterattack, we could be in real trouble.”

He nodded, but it was only temporary. Once the demolition charged detonated, the problem of the Taliban defenders would cease to exist. He looked around for Drew Jackson and called him forward.

"Set your charges here. Enough to seal those bastards in, but not enough to kill us all."

"I can't use a remote detonator in here. The interference is likely to either detonate early or not at all. It'll have to be a timer."

“Understood.” Talley glanced up as the prisoners approached. All were being helped, and two of them were coughing blood. It looked real bad, even worse than he'd realized.

Somehow, I have to give these men a chance to live after all they've suffered.

He looked back at Drew.

"Here's how we'll do it. Time the charges for one minute, but wait for my signal before you start the countdown. Hermann, when the Minimis arrive, lay down a curtain of fire on those hostiles along the tunnel, and tickle them with a couple of grenades. We'll hold the prisoners back until the explosives detonate. Then we'll push them forward and out of the cave system before our Taliban friends know what hit them."

Jackson began stuffing C4 into crevices in the rock, dodging the enemy bullets as he was forced to work in the open. He’d almost finished when a heavy Kalashnikov round punched him in the chest. He cried out and fell to the ground. Buchmann and Guy reached out, took a leg each, and dragged him out of the gunfire. He was stunned but unwounded. His ballistic vest had taken the shock of the impact. He threw off their helping hands and forced himself to his feet.

"No, I have to finish. I'm nearly there."

There was a break between bursts as the enemy stopped to change ammunition clips, and before they could stop him, he dashed out and rammed the detonator into his plastique. Then he catapulted back behind cover, just before the gunfire recommenced.

Talley looked further along the tunnel. Thirty meters ahead, the tunnel doglegged to the right. It would give them some protection from the blast. He looked at Drew. He was on his knees, gasping for air after the shock of the bullet and his mad rush across the tunnel.

"Wait until we get around that bend, then start the timer. We'll set up a defensive position to stop them if they try to reach the explosives."

As he finished speaking, the enemy gunfire died away again, just as Roy Reynolds and Nikki Toussaint ran up with the Minimis. Talley pointed straight down the tunnel.

"Let ‘em have it."

Both men opened fire, and the lethal storm of bullets saturated the narrow tunnel with hot steel. Buchmann drew his HK grenade pistol in a flashy movement and fired a grenade, closely followed by another. Talley couldn’t wait any longer.

"Now go! Get them out of here, around that corner, and flat on the floor. Cover them from the blast as best you can. Jackson, do it!"

He covered them as they ran past and disappeared around the sharp bend in the tunnel. He gestured, and Buchmann ran next, followed by the two machine gunners. It was just him and Guy. He smiled.

"Get out of here, Sergeant Welland. I'll be right behind you."

The former SAS man was already racing along the dark passage. Talley was aware they were up against two critical time factors. The amount of time left before the charges detonated, and the time it took for the hostiles to recover. It wasn’t much, but if the enemy were fast, they could do plenty of damage before Jackson's explosives turned their cave fortress into a tomb. Another burst of gunfire chewed up the rock inches in front of him.

The bastards are too damn accurate!

He dived to the ground but kept crawling forward. He was less than ten meters from the sharp bend in the tunnel that would give him some protection, when Jackson poked his head around the corner and shouted, "Five seconds, Boss! Hurry!"

Fuck!
I’m not going to make it. I can see that. Will it be best to turn and fire at the enemy,
take some of them with me?

But the decision was taken for him. Roy Reynolds and Nikki Toussaint threw themselves to the ground and opened fire. The enemy gunfire ceased abruptly, and he heard a scream. It cut down the odds, but not the time.

"Three seconds!"

He shouted urgently, “Roy, Nikki, get under cover, now!”

As he spat out the order, Guy ran out and hustled him into a narrow niche in the tunnel wall, one he hadn’t noticed in the confusion of the underground battle. He shouted at the Minimi gunners to follow, and the two men leapt into the cramped cavern.

"One second! Fire in the…"

The earth trembled as the explosives detonated. Lumps of rock rained down over them, and for a moment he feared the roof would cave in on them all. The blast wave was shocking in its intensity, as it smashed into their bodies like steam hammers. The air was thick with choking dust, and something else, the mixture of high explosive and broken, burned bodies that was an inevitable part of the battlefield. Talley shook his head and tried to wipe the dust from his eyes. He could hear a roaring noise, and then he made out an individual sound.

What is it?

No one was talking to him, and then he realized as his head cleared that something was coming through in his earpiece.

At last.

"This is Echo One. Go ahead."

As the voice answered, he heard the sound of gunfire.

"This is Rovere, Echo Three. We're engaging the enemy. They came pouring out of one of the side tunnels."

"Can you hold them?"

A pause. "I could have done with those machine guns. It's going to be close, Boss."

"We're on the way."

He sent the gunners ahead, and shouted at them to follow him. As he ran, he ordered the men shepherding the POWs to hold just inside the cave entrance. He forged ahead until he could see the glimmer of the starlit night sky ahead of him. The sounds of battle were more intense; the sharp, heavy crack of the sniper rifles, the rattle of Rovere's assault rifle, overlaid by the deeper, heavier sounds of the enemy Kalashnikovs. He looked outside. The Italian had fallen back to a narrow position behind some rocks. As he reached the mouth of the tunnel, he came alongside the two Minimis, already spitting out their message of death as the gunners went about their work. Multiple flashes, sparkling like fireflies, lit the night sky, but there was little beauty in the brutal intensity of the barrage of gunfire. He made a fast estimate. There had to be at least a score of fighters outside, and in such a strategically important position as this one, there'd be many more on the way.

"Echo Three, this is Echo One. We're at the cave entrance. We'll come at them from behind, which should give them something to think about. In the meantime, I'm calling in air support. There could be a whole heap of insurgents on the way, more than we can handle."

"The sooner the better. We've been lucky. No casualties so far, but it can't last,” Rovere replied.

"Copy that."

He switched frequencies to contact the forward air controller. It was an Air Force Major, sitting comfortably in an AWACS aircraft five thousand meters up in the night sky.

"This is Echo One. We need support down here. Do you read, Sentry One?"

A pause, and then the crackle of sound from above.

"We read you loud and clear, Echo One. We're observing the action right now. Be advised, there are other groups of hostiles on the way to reinforce. We estimate the first group of thirty, three zero hostiles; will be in a position to join the fight inside of four minutes. They're running across those mountains like fucking goats."

"What can you give us?"

This time the reply was immediate.

 
"I already called in a couple of Warthogs that were prowling around the area, looking for business. Hold your positions. Do not move. I've given them the target coordinates, and we don't want any accidents."

"Copy that. When it’s over, we’ll need a Medevac. We’re bringing out five NATO POWs, and thanks."

“You’re welcome.”

He switched to the command frequency and gave them the good news.

"You guys looking after the POWs, stay inside the cave entrance. When the Warthogs come over, a few meters of rock is the best protection from those depleted uranium slugs. The rest of you, they know where we are, so hold your positions." He thought about the last time he'd seen the Fairchild Republic A-10 Thunderbolts in action and clicked his mic again, "and enjoy the show."

They waited for a few minutes; occasionally sending short bursts toward the enemy in case they got any ideas of rushing them. It was as well the air support was on the way. Talley knew the ammunition was starting to run low. Like most operations done in a hurry, what should have been a sneak attack, fast in, fast out, had become an extended firefight, and they weren’t equipped for full-scale battle. He looked up at the night sky as he heard the sound of aircraft engines coming in fast and low. The enemy stopped shooting at them, too, and several pointed their guns skyward, firing clip after clip, more in hope than expectation. The Warthogs came in fast. One second there was just the roaring noise far in the dark sky, and then they opened fire.

The A-10 was little more than a toughened airframe built around a thirty millimeter GAU-8/A Avenger Gatling-type cannon. One of the most powerful aircraft cannons ever flown, the rotary cannon fired large, depleted uranium armor-piercing shells.