AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Jackson hesitated briefly as if he’d been waiting for the question. “No,” he finally admitted.
“That’s all right,” replied Rapp. “We all have to start somewhere. How many of your men have seen action?”
Again, Jackson hesitated while he tallied the number. “Five of the twenty-three.”
This was not exactly what Rapp wanted to hear. In his mind he started moving people around like pieces on a chess board. Hackett’s experience was too valuable to attach him to the cover force. His steady gun would be needed down where the action was taking place, and for that matter it would be nice to have Coleman at his side too. The only problem there was that Coleman needed to be in a position where he could take in the whole picture.
Coleman got off the radio with the captain and Rapp apprised him of his concerns. Before considering them, Coleman asked Jackson to bring his men in for a final briefing.
When the young lieutenant was gone, Rapp said, “He’s never seen action.”
Coleman seemed unfazed by the revelation. “It doesn’t surprise me.”
With a detached look in his eyes Rapp added, “I’m going to need some hardened guys down there with me to mop up when we’re done.”
The two men looked at each other and communicated an unspoken thought. “Yeah, I know,” said Coleman. “No prisoners. No survivors.” He’d been through the drill before. “I’ll make sure I communicate it to Jackson and the chiefs. Believe me, he’s green, but he’s heard it before.”
“Yeah, hearing about it’s one thing, but until you’ve had to put a bullet in a wounded man’s head …” Rapp frowned and looked down at the ground. “It’d be nice if we could spare the kid from having to think about it for the rest of his life.”
Coleman agreed. “Don’t worry, I’ll take care of it.”
Jackson came back to the group and his men started appearing through the underbrush. When everyone was assembled, Coleman and Jackson began briefing the men on the specifics of the mission. Few questions were asked. The men had all gone through the drill before. Contingencies were addressed and for a final time they went over handling the hostages and getting them out of the line of fire and secured as soon as possible.
Coleman went on to state in very clear terms this was more than a hostage rescue. He explained to the men that if they wanted to make it back to the ship they needed to decimate the enemy. They were an inferior force in numbers and could offer no aid or quarter. The men had all heard this before from their various instructors, but for the majority of them it was the first time it held such relevance.
The last thing Coleman did was point to his own forehead and say, “Remember … double taps to the foreheads and keep moving.”
Then one by one he ordered each element to their jumping-off points. Coleman then directed the cover force into position and when everything was ready he gave the word to move out. Rapp led the group up the middle. Crawling on their bellies, they slid from their elevated position down toward the rushing creek. Before the rains had come the creek could have been crossed with one step; now it was a raging waist-deep river that would have to be forded with caution.
Even with the cover noise of raindrops hitting the thick jungle leaves, the men moved with great care. Footing was so slippery th
at everyone had been ordered to crawl, lest someone slip, go tumbling down toward the creek and possibly alert the terrorists. Behind Rapp followed Lieutenant Jackson and ten of his men. The remaining twelve SEALs who were not assigned to the cover force were now working their way into position to flank the camp. As per the scouting report that Wicker had given them, six men had gone to take up position on the west end of the camp and six more to the east side. These two groups were to watch the two main paths that led into the village and then strike the four lean-tos when the order was given.
All twenty-nine men in the operation had been briefed on the entire scope of the operation. This was crucial, not just so that they could carry out another man’s assignment if he fell, but to understand where everyone else was. With so much firepower concentrated in such a small area, the men needed to be aware of what the various elements were up to, lest they shoot one of their own.
When they reached the overflowing banks of the creek, Rapp waited to hear from the two flanking elements that they were in position. He looked out from under the brim of his jungle hat across the rain-peppered rushing stream and toward the village. From his vantage he could see directly into one of the lean-tos without the aid of his gun-mounted night vision scope. The men inside appeared to be playing a game of some sort under a single hanging lantern. At the moment one of the men appeared to be yelling at one of his companions about something. The others stood about and laughed boisterously at the angered man. As Rapp watched he couldn’t help but think that the discipline of this group was really lax. It was really an embarrassment that someone hadn’t freed the Andersons sooner.
While waiting for the go-ahead Rapp’s thoughts turned briefly to his wife. If she knew what he was doing right now, she’d cut his nuts off. Instinctively knowing that there was probably a pretty good case to be made that he was an irresponsible and somewhat dishonest husband, he decided to not explore the issue further. At least not for now. The awkward denials and recriminations could wait until he was back in Washington.
It was always questions with Anna. She had an insatiable desire to know things, and the more she was told something didn’t matter, the more it mattered. This trait, of course, treated her well in her job as a reporter, but in their relationship it was something that had to be monitored closely. Anna was a very passionate woman. Nothing was done in a halfhearted manner. If it was worth doing it was worth doing to the fullest. In this regard, Rapp wasn’t all that different; he just went about things in a more analytical, stoic way, whereas Anna was more passionate and determined.
Coleman’s voice crackled over his earpiece, pulling him back to the present. “Teams three and four are in position, Mitch. Let me know when you’re ready.”
Cradling his suppressed MP-5 in his arms he edged forward, entering the rushing water headfirst. The force of the stream rushing down the mountain was stronger than he thought it would be. He hoped it wasn’t any deeper than his waist or they might have a more difficult time getting across than they’d planned. As the water deepened, Rapp found his footing and carefully picked his way across, ready to drop down into the water at a moment’s notice if someone appeared from one of the two tents.
Fortunately, the water never got above the middle of his thighs. As long as none of the other men lost their footing, they would have little difficulty in fording the stream. When he reached the other side he crawled up the grassy bank and took up a cover position a mere thirty feet from the hostages’ tent. Using hand signals he gestured for Jackson to bring the other two teams over.
This had been Jackson’s idea. The original plan was to send Rapp over on his own and see if he could get close enough to the one tent to somehow tell them where the hostages were positioned inside. They all agreed that most likely the Andersons were huddled together at the far end of the tent. Nonetheless, it would be nice to know exactly where they were.
SEALs regularly trained in shooting rooms set up for hostage rescues. They’d have to burst through a door, window or sometimes even a wall, and in a matter of a second or two differentiate between the hostages and the terrorists and then kill the latter.
Jackson’s suggestion had been to get the remaining two teams across before Rapp tried to sneak a peek. This way if things went wrong they’d be in a much better position to execute the takedown. No one wanted to return without the Andersons, so Jackson urged that they hold nothing back.
Rapp looked over his shoulder and saw Jackson reach his side of the creek and then gesture for the next man to follow. As he waited for Jackson to join him he was startled by a flash to his left. Rapp’s whole body tensed as light spilled out from the other tent. Looking through the grass he saw a man holding back the flap of the tent and relieving himself.
Rapp didn’t bother to train his gun on the man. He knew Wicker would have already done so. Looking over his shoulder he could barely make out one of Jackson’s men crouching down in the middle of the rushing water.
With no fear of being heard due to the falling rain, Rapp whispered into his lip mike, “Everyone relax. This guy can’t see more than twenty feet.”
