Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

VII

After four exhausting days of trekking, sleeping on the ground, eating MREs, we finally arrived in position near the SRH fortress around noon. It luckily wasn't an eagle's nest, otherwise we wouldn't have been able to do much. We would have had to call in the "Roses & Rifles" – another company, free fighting squad – for backup.

At the end of a dead-end valley, someone had built a fortress, making sure there was only one entrance and that he was the one watching it.

We left the path 3km before reaching the fortress, scrambled up the mountain on a fucking goat track and found ourselves overlooking the inner courtyard of the fortress.

Baby Jane and Tito set the 720 SR up, Lullaby and I unfolded our bows. Inspired by the double curvature bows of the riders of the Antiquity – Scythians, mainly – they are quite small, but thanks to the pulley they are powerful with a great range, for a small size.

Kris nodded to Poll. His eyes lost his focus for a few seconds, then he raised his thumb. He is a telepath, emitting and receiving, and has great power because he is able, strangely enough, to get carried by the signal from our earpieces and Dandelions. He calls it "riding the waves". Telecommunications technology has advanced, so has espionage. Poll is our secret weapon. He is linked to another telepath, sadly receiver only, at base. He can inform Lin live, but to transmit back she has to use normal radio waves.

The downsides to his ability's power are the headaches – I should call them migraines – that knock him down every now and then. He also says the radio waves are elusive at times, as he puts it, and that makes him spend too much energy finding and taming them.

The team strategy is to shoot the sentries as quietly as possible and take down as many fighters as possible before they can react.

Unfortunately, something happened that we weren't expecting and couldn't foresee. The journalist, a female, who had managed to hide her gender all this time, was betrayed by her period and the accompanying cramps. We had assumed she would be in a bad shape, what with women being raped when they get caught, but this...

We were hiding overhead, the Viking was shifting his gaze over the bowl through binoculars and suddenly he cursed. Handing the binocs to his brother, he got rid of his harness, weapons, helmet, shades, keeping only his jacket and earpiece, and made a bee-line towards the fortress.
- Erik! Kris whispered, come back here right now, for fuck's sake!
- No time, bro, he said into the earpiece and we all heard him. We also heard Lin yelling.
- What do you mean, no time, Hellason? This is Lin.
- They found her out, they're getting ready to rape her.

And, right, there was some uproar around the prisoners. We heard a scream, another curse from the Viking through the earpiece.
- Skítt, Erik, you'll screw it up, growled Kris.
- She'll be screwed if we do nothing. Delay it. Archer, Lullaby, shoot.

We complied, took four sentries down. Then the Adlerauge kicked in. Baby Jane shot two of the journalist's assailants in the ass. Supreme shame, but they had her back to her and she was sure not to shoot through her target. The ass is tender, it absorbs shocks. She had a nasty smirk while shooting. We all have a past.

Erk reached the fortress gate, took a guard by the neck – which he wrung – took his gun and fired it once in the air. It was a Colt 45, made almost as much noise as Lin's Smith & Wesson. Everyone froze, us included. The Viking immediately dropped the gun and his victim, and found himself the target of all SRH weapons. He wisely raised his hands halfway up, showing them empty.

The SRH leader approached him, preventing his men from shooting at the Icelander.
- What are you doing here? he asked, sticking the barrel of his gun under his chin, which, the Viking being the giant he is, is no mean feat.
- I've come for the prisoners.
- All three of them?
- All three.