Blood Lily Company - Afghanistan, year 1

XLV

So, after a good nap, a light but very energetic dinner, we boarded the two helicopters, which could carry fifteen people, crews included, each. Yaka didn't really like the ride. She flattened herself to the copter floor, between JD's feet, hears flattened to her skull. Kitty sat at the dog-handler's feet and spent the trip petting the dog. Kitty was the only one not in combat gear, apart from her tactical vest and Behemoth. She would stay in the chopper until the end.

After almost four hours of flight during which we all more or less dozed off, or reviewed the coming action in our minds, we landed two kilometers from the sentries, lowered the balaclavas over our faces and slowly approached the base, using the buildings to move forward like ghosts. The sentry perimeter was quite the same as when we had studied the map the night before, and each of the four assassins slipped quietly towards their targets. The most distant ones were reserved for the archers, Dio and I.

In a few minutes, the eight sentries were permanently removed. Sometimes, it wakes me up at night. I'm lucky enough to kill them with a bow, from afar, and it still gives me nightmares. I can't imagine what it feels like to kill them in close combat, like Tito or Bloody Mary do.

I checked the computer on my forearm and validated with Erk.

And then we had a really bad surprise: Poll told us he couldn't ride the waves, Erk told him to drop it. Later, during the debriefing, we would think it was because there had been too many different exchanges and channels around us that night. Erk told him not to worry.

We walked slowly towards the building where those who were still asleep were. I pulled my oil can out for the front door hinges. We walked in, barely louder than a draft of air. We slipped into the rooms on the right, the R&R taking the ones on the left. They were empty, lucky us.

We went upstairs, very slowly, Erk ahead of us to test the steps. No noise upstairs, everything was very quiet.

At the top of the stairs, we found ourselves in a corridor going to the right and the left of the steps. A raised fist stopped us. The Viking gave the lead to Kris who, after watching, listening and looking at his computer, divided us to either side with a wave of his hand. Kris, Erk, Tito and I had to head to the target once the hostiles were subdued.

And there, things went south. Of course, we had been so bloody lucky so far, there was no reason for this to last. Murphy showed up and screwed the hell up. We must have set off a silent alarm because they were waiting for us. I had found it odd, too, for the ground floor to be empty. Even if the bedrooms were upstairs, there should have been at least one or two guys awake on sentry duty on the ground floor, like there are always guys awake in the caravanserai, in addition to the sentries on the perimeter and in the barbican.

On Katja's side, to our right, there were lots of shooting, and cries of pain, and Erk jumped, Kris held him back. Katja, knowing the Viking's propensity to ignore personal danger to rescue the wounded, immediately reported minor injuries to us, sending the wounded to Erk if necessary. But when I say minor injuries, I mean really minor and only one needed healing.

The shots became sparse, the "room secured!" followed one after another on the radio then silence. Katja confirmed that it was over on her end. No other injuries.

On our side, Tito and I were lying prone at the top of the stairs, just our heads and the gun sticking out, waiting for the guys on the right, half a dozen, to show up. Strangely, they had stayed hidden.

Well, we quickly understood why: they were waiting for us. We had barely set foot in the hallway, the four of us, when lead started flying and Kris, the one in front, took a bullet in the thigh. He fell with a cry of pain, his eyes half rolled back. I freaked out momentarily, wondering what Erk would do if ever... It angered him but he quickly controlled himself. He had a predatory sneer on his face, baring his teeth, then his face relaxed somewhat. He pulled his brother to cover, checked that the bullet had gone through him and partially healed him. I looked at his hands. They were shining, as always. But they were shaking.