The sun was glaringly bright, and the oppressive heat caused objects in the distance to shimmer like a mirage, but they could still make out a lone truck off in the distance. Nate grabbed the binoculars out of the truck, hopped into the bed, and climbed on top of the cab, looking through the reticles of the optics. There was a single truck filled with men, and he could see weapons.
“Here we go again,” he said, handing them to Tim to confirm.
“They’re gaining on us,” Tim said. “Probably AQ shitheads from that camp or Al Kharkhir.
“They’re used to traveling through this desert and can move much more quickly than we can,” Ana noted.
“They hadn’t even been on the horizon an hour ago,” Tim said. “Now they’re right on our heels. They’ll overtake us in an hour or two.”
“If we can’t outrun them, then we need to take them out,” Nate stated.
“I couldn’t agree more,” Tim said. “No more running. We need to give them a target and lay in a good old-fashioned ambush.”
“I like it,” Nate agreed. “What are you thinking?”
Tim laid out the plan for the ambush and they went to work preparing. Shane and Ana would drive the truck north to the next dune before dismounting and offsetting a hundred meters from the vehicle. When the terrorists crested the opposing hill to the south, they would open fire with the Mosin-Nagants. Shane felt confident he could get at least two in the opening attack, as the distance was less than two hundred meters. He was going to instruct Ana on how to aim, fire, and work the bolt action. She didn’t need to hit anyone, Nate told her, just get rounds downrange and keep their pursuers’ heads down.
When the enemy truck stopped, Nate, Tim, and Wally would emerge from their hidden location on the same dune, slightly offset to the east. They dug holes for themselves so that they wouldn’t be seen by the terrorists until it was too late. The truck would be caught in a classic L-shaped ambush, and then the three of them would close the distance with their AKs, eliminating the survivors.
After the firing position was set up, Shane and Ana worked pouring sand over the other three to obscure them from view. As Ana scooped sand over Nate, he looked up at her and smiled.
“Just like burying someone at the beach,” he noted casually.
Ana gave him a look that said she thought he was crazy. “If I didn’t know any better, I’d swear you were enjoying yourself,” she said in disbelief.
Nate grinned at her. “It’s nice to get out of the library sometimes.”
Ana smiled and shook her head before scooping sand over his face.
When Shane was satisfied that there was no observable trace of the hidden ambushers, they traversed the valley between the dunes to return to their firing position. Shane gave Ana some brief tips on how to aim and fire.
“It’s relatively simple,” he said, indicating the iron sights of the rifle. “When you’re firing behind glass… with a scope,” he clarified, “there’s a lot more math involved. This is a simple distance of less than two hundred meters. Just line up the front sight post with the rear like I showed you, and what you see is what you get.”
Ana simply nodded, then tightened her grip on the rifle stock.
They were in place as the truck that had been following them crested the edge and began traveling along the sand ridge. The vehicle full of terrorists stopped as they saw their quarry’s truck on the dune opposite and began frantically yelling. Just then Nate heard the crack of rifles and lifted his head slightly from the sand, just enough to sneak a peek. He was surprised to see two men flailing about instead of one. It was possible Shane had hit two with one shot, but more likely that Ana was shooting to kill. As expected, the men sought cover behind the stopped truck.
“Fire!” Tim yelled.
The three men wriggled out of their sandy concealment and opened up with AKs from their position, shooting anything that moved. The terrorists were caught in the kill zone, and they fired wildly in every direction. Nate sighted one jumping out of the bed of the truck and put two rounds in his chest midair. The man collapsed on the ground and lay still. He transitioned to a second man who had sought coverfrom Shane’s and Ana’s rifles behind the truck but was easily exposed from the side. Nate fired three more times and the terrorist crumpled over before rolling down the backside of the dune. In his periphery, he saw other targets dropping as his teammates methodically sighted and eliminated the men in their sectors.
When Nate, Tim, and Wally had all expended their magazines, they reloaded before getting on-line and clearing through the objective. There were a few survivors crawling about and they put rounds into them, eliminating any possible threat. They had already found one suicide vest, and they weren’t looking to be surprised by a second. Once they had swept through the kill zone and reached their limit of advance, they returned to the truck and searched it for gear. They scrounged ammo and water, though the fuel cans on the back were shot through and the truck itself was deadlined.
“That’s a wrap,” Nate said. “Let’s get moving in case they had friends.”
They made their way down the sand dune and up the other side. Shane and Ana were there waiting for them, Ana holding on to her rifle like a walking stick that was nearly as tall as she was. She looked shaken, but determined. Nate felt that she was beginning to feel protective over not just him, but the others as well. He guessed that she was willing to do her part to ensure their safety, but the taking of a human life still must have affected her. He decided not to press the issue right now and simply smiled at her. She smiled back weakly and he walked over and put his arm around her.
“You did great,” he said, kissing her on the top of the head.
“Fucking right you did!” Wally added.
“Thanks,” she said, looking down, unsure and slightly embarrassed.
“Hey, boys,” Shane yelled. “We might have a little problem.”
He was standing by the rear of the truck near the fuel cans. There were several pieces of duct tape on both cans, and a large dark puddleon the ground in front of them. It appeared that in the midst of battle, the truck had taken some hits.
“The good news is that the truck still runs. The bad news is, we’ve lost at least half our fuel.”
