Echo Six: Black Ops 8 - ISIS Killing Fields (16 page)

A few more minutes, and they had a gap wide enough to squeeze into. He pulled the girl through and started crawling toward the fort. He could hear her right behind him, so close at times she touched his leg, maybe by accident, or perhaps for reassurance. One thing he knew for sure. If they got out of this place, her days of roaming through tunnels and dark passages were gone for good.

Her voice was little more than a murmur, "Abe."

He was trying to clear a small pile of debris, passing the rocks back. Her odor reached his nostrils, the odor of perspiration, and the stink of fear. Yet it failed to conceal her musky female scent.

"What is it?"

"I don't want to die in this place. It would be a terrible death, suffocating in a dark tunnel." Her voice shook. He knew she was trying, and failing, to hide her terror of being buried alive.

"You're not going to die. We're getting out of here."

"I understand. Even so, if it comes to it, would you put a bullet in me? Make it quick."

He heard Guy, who was behind her, cough.

"If that's what you tell me you want, I'll do it."

"Thank you. Don’t do it until I say it's all over."

"Sure. Guy, are you okay back there?"

There'd been another outbreak of coughing. "I'm good. Must be the dust getting into my throat."

"Right." He didn't feel guilty about the lie. If it came to it, he'd pull the trigger. Have to. If he waited for her to ask him, she'd die of hunger and thirst long before his bullet took her.

He crawled on and then he had an idea. "Geena, it would help me if you held the flashlight, pointed it ahead of me. That'll leave my hands free to clear any loose debris, would you do that for me?"

"Of course."

She sounded happier, and he knew having a source of light in her hand, under her control, would bring back some of her equilibrium. In truth, it was easier for him, and their speed increased. There were no more blockages, and they reached the end of the shaft, a kind of crossroads. More tunnels lay ahead of them. One detoured either side off the main tunnel, although these secondary shafts were too small to squeeze through. Above them, a ladder set into the side of the shaft was old and looked rotten. It had to lead into the fort.

He helped pull her from the tunnel mouth. She gulped in deep breaths as the realization came to her they'd made it, escaped the tomb that almost had them trapped for all eternity. Guy came next. As they crawled from the dark opening one by one, he tested the ladder.

"I'll go up first and find somewhere to tie off a rope. I doubt this thing will take us all. Geena, I need the flashlight. It'll be okay."

She passed it to him, and he saw the terror reappear in her eyes just before the darkness closed around her again. "Don't be long, Abe."

"I won't. We'll be on the surface soon."

The Brit glanced up as he was wiping the dust from his rifle. With Guy, it would always be the number one priority. "We'll be ready."

Talley started up the ladder. It rocked and wobbled like crazy. Halfway up a rung split in half. He grabbed for the next one, and that started to crack, but he used his hands on the outside supports and managed to haul himself to the top. He was in a well, an old fashioned well, with stone sides and a winding handle attached to the spindle for the rope. He tested it and found it strong enough to support the weight of a man. A minute later, he had his rappelling rope attached and let it fall to the bottom.

While he heard the first person starting to climb, he looked at his surroundings. A small room about four meters square, with a door set in the wall. He tried the handle, and it was unlocked, a good omen. He opened it, and a shaft of light lifted the faint gloom so he was able to make out his surroundings without the flashlight. When he peeked outside, there was a narrow corridor, more walls, a stone floor, and at the end a flight of stone steps.

The way into the fort, it has to be. The burning question is; who is on the other side of that door at the head of the staircase?

He was about to try the door and put up his hand. Heard voices the other side and decided to wait. Not voices, more like screams.

What the hell is going on up there? It sounds like...hell.

He went back down the staircase. To one side of the corridor there was a stout timber door, but when he tried it, it was locked. He tapped the woodwork, and it sounded like the echo of a large space, maybe another corridor, and possibly a way out.

A few moments later, Guy appeared. They were all there, and ready to take the fort. Domenico Rovere, for once was silent after the nightmare of the tunnel. Tadeus Bielski, Drew Jackson, and Vince diMosta, the unit sniper, except he'd left his rifle behind before they entered the tunnel.

Roy Reynolds and Virgil Kane, both men looked undressed without their Minimi squad automatic weapons. The two Frenchmen, former Foreign Legion paras, Gerard and Duvall, tough and capable, handsome, even. He'd noticed them casting their eyes over Geena and resisted the stab of jealousy. Ten men, and at their front, Geena Blake, since the journey through the tunnel, she seemed to have withdrawn into herself. As if she'd started suffering some kind of PTSD. It wouldn't surprise him. It had been a bad one, in fact, beyond bad. He reflected on how close she'd come to his mercy bullet, too close. He glanced at Guy. "Weapons check."

"We're good. Set to go."

"Any injuries?"

"Not physical, no."

There'd be an emotional hangover. They both knew that. It wasn't just Geena. When a man believes he's about to die in a dark, airless coffin, it's better than strong coffee to keep him awake.

"I hear you. Listen up, there's a door at the top of the stone staircase. I can hear something going on out there. I don't know what it is, but when that door opens, we go out and hit them like a tornado. Chances are they'll outnumber us, so we need speed and surprise to handle this. Guy, take two men and split left. Domenico, take two men and go right. That'll leave me with four operators to hit them head on, right down the middle. Any questions?"

"What about me?"

They all looked at Geena. Small, covered in dirt and sweat, vulnerable, and frightened, yet undeniably beautiful.

"If things go wrong, this may be our only way out. I need you to cover the doorway for us. You have your weapon?"

She slid a hand inside her shirt, and it came out with her Beretta Storm PX4 Subcompact. "I do."

He was achingly aware the snub automatic had been lodged next to her breasts. For a second, he wondered if it was tension. The proximity of danger that made him feel so aroused in the presence of a beautiful woman at times like these.

"Stay inside this door, and keep out of sight. Anyone comes, shoot the bastards."

"But how will we get out? Not back through the tunnel? I can't..."

"No. There's a door back along the corridor. It's locked, but it has to lead somewhere. If we need to come back this way, that's our exit route."

Her expression was somber. "I understand."

"Let's make it happen, men. When I open that door, all hell's gonna break loose. It's time to party."

"Hell, yeah." He didn't know who it was, but after that tunnel, they all needed some way to let off steam. Killing the enemy was always a good way.

He gripped his HK416, climbed the staircase, and waited with one hand on the doorknob. They slipped into their assigned groups. Roy Reynolds was behind him, along with Drew Jackson and Tadeus Bielski. They were good men, but then again, every man in his unit was the best. Guy's three-man squad positioned themselves to his left, and Rovere to the right. They were ready.

He opened the door wide and stepped into hell. The entire compound was a mass of smoke and fire, screaming men, shouting men, and bodies lying on the ground. As if it has taken a hit from a missile, or maybe an artillery strike. Guy was standing next to him, astonished.

"That explains the earthquake we felt underground. Someone hit this place with an airstrike, and they hit it hard. Jesus, just look at it!"

Two ISIS litter bearers raced past, screaming at no one in particular. A man lay prone on the gurney, his intestines hanging over the side and dragging on the ground. As he watched, the rearmost bearer trod on a length of intestine, and the patient screamed in terrible agony. They put down the gurney and scooped up the bloody mass hanging from his stomach, but it was obvious he wasn't going to make it, obvious to Talley's men and the bearers.

They looked at each other, shrugged, and took out cigarettes and matches. They stood, smoking happily waiting for their patient to die. They didn't notice the Echo Six operators, not at first. How could there be foreign soldiers in this place? Impossible. Then one of them turned, and his eyes were like saucers as he saw them staring at him through the smoke. Guy pulled the trigger, and a round thumped out of his suppressed Sig Sauer to take him in the forehead.

Talley fired a moment later, and his target went down with a bullet through his neck. He wasn't dead, not until Guy put another round through his heart. He looked at Talley.

"That was crap shooting, Boss. How come you missed the sweet spot between the eyes?"

"I was aiming at the throat, what he deserved."

"You wanted him to suffer?"

"Wouldn't you if someone trod on your guts?"

He grinned. "No question. It's time we went."

They strode out into the smoke and chaos of the bombed out fort. At first, no one noticed. They were too busy saving equipment and pulling casualties from the rubble of the buildings. Guy and Rovere's teams disappeared to the flanks, and he strode at the head of his tiny fireteam into the center of the compound. At first, they used their pistols, sound suppressed Sigs. He estimated they'd taken down six of the enemy, and then they saw them.

A man was standing close to the main gate, shouting at some men to clear the debris blocking it. A line of black clad ISIS had formed a bucket chain. They were frantically passing pails of water hand-to-hand, battling to fight the flames that poured out of the gatehouse. The guardhouse, he assumed, nut their panic suggested something more serious.

The armory? Jesus H. Christ!

The Arab had an AK slung on his shoulder, and he looked up casually when he detected movement. He reacted fast, screamed a warning, and unslung his rifle.

Talley popped three shots from his Sig, but the range was too long, and the guy was moving fast. They all missed, and then the shit hit the fan. Armed men came running through the smoke, and the time for stealth had gone.

"Use the rifles, hit them!"

They holstered the pistols and switched to the HKs. At first, it looked like they had a chance. Four men skilled in the use of their weapons, moving as one, firing short, accurate bursts that decimated the defenders. Until the man who'd summoned them took charge. He screamed an order, and his fighters dived to the ground, making for difficult targets. They also started returning fire, and bullets began to spit through the air close to Talley's squad. He looked around for help as yet more hostiles raced to join the battle. He estimated they had to fight off at least fourteen of the black clad ISIS. Jackson touched his arm to get his attention.

"Boss, over there."

More fighters, there had to be twenty of them. He wondered what they'd blundered into. This was supposed to be a small outpost, but it had the look of a major ISIS center. Possibly a major arms supply and resupply dump, although it could have fulfilled a number of other functions, training, logistics, or even a forward operating base. It was clever, putting it out in the desert. Until someone delivered an airstrike on their heads, and then Echo Six turned up.

Where Rovere's men had gone, bullets whistled through the smoke, but it was impossible to assess the action. Rovere would have to manage. With at least thirty hostiles facing his four men, it was time to get into cover.

"Fall back! Keep firing but start to ease back where we came from. All of you, keep an eye out for anything we can use as cover."

"Ain't nothing here," Reynolds rumbled, "It's a mess. There're just the outer walls still standing. And that place we came out of doesn’t go anywhere, except back underground."

"If there’s no other cover available to us, we'll take it. That's where we're headed, the way we came."

They raced into the entrance that led to the underground qanats, the one part of the fort still standing, apart from the walls. Geena was waiting for them, her face stretched with fear.

"Why are you coming back? You're not thinking of going back through that tunnel? I can't do it, Abe. I'd prefer to shoot myself first."

He stood aside and covered Rovere's men as they pulled back into cover. Then he glanced at her. "We're not using the tunnel to get out, don't worry. We need to work out an alternative. Decide our next move."

"Next move?" She glanced around the doorway and jerked her head back as shots hammered into the stonework outside, "Is there a next move?"

"There's always a next move. Guy, take two men, and check out that corridor we came through. There was a doorway set in the wall, see where it leads."

"Copy that."

He raced off down the staircase with Jackson, while Talley took a fast look outside. They were getting closer, emboldened by the lack of fire from the enemy. That had to change.