Crimson [840658]

Chapter 14

Chapter 14

I don’t remember getting much sleep, after handing the letters in I'd wrote to be sent back I lay tossing and turning for what seemed ages. The thought of the task at hand made me nervous, even though I knew I was prepared I was a nervous wreck. We’d been told that we would be raiding a potential hot-spot where a few innocent civilians were being held hostage. The men were armed and holding them for a high ransom, the government back home had given us the go ahead to make the raid so all eyes would be on us back home.

I thought about Nathan and what the boys had said about how he always checked what was going on, had he seen already that I would be in the raid? Did he know what was going on? If so how was he feeling? I also thought about my family, I was pretty certain that they would be aware of it and I hoped they wouldn’t worry too much.

~

When it was time to get up for duty I was so tired, the mixture of the long day yesterday and lack of sleep due to nerves wouldn’t do me much good when it came down to the raid. I could tell the majority of the people around me were nervous too, especially with Codie, Sandy and Daniel since I knew them best. Though the nerves might be showing right now, as soon as we got out there our minds would be too busy focused to even register the nerves that might still be floating around our stomachs.

Breakfast was quick, I shovelled the eggs and toast down me without any thought. Before I knew it we were all packed in the trucks ready for the raid, helmets on, bulletproof vests in place and guns loaded. “You all know your places. Team one will stand guard near the truck ready to jump in if and when needed. Team two will run straight in looking for the hostages with team three protecting them at the same time. Team four are the medics, you will stay in the truck unless you’re needed, team five will enter from the opposite direction and team six will enter via the seconds story, are all instructions clear?” Sergeant Breman asked, after we all signalled a yes we began moving into our positions.

Being on team three with Codie, Daniel, Sandy and three other colleagues meant we would be on guard and in the line of any gun fire or weapons, it was our job to make sure team number two got to the hostages safely and effectively. With my gun in position and safety gear in place I was ready, my mind set had changed since we had got here and I was ready to fight for those being held hostage.

“On my command” Breman ordered, I stood next to Daniel and our eyes met, nodding once to each other we silently said so much with no words whatsoever. We were fine, we were ready and whatever happened we would be okay. Doing the same with Sandy and Codie I turned to the building we would be invading shortly, it was tall, around three stories and from the outside looked completely deserted, but we had word under good authority that this was the place the hostages were being held. It reminded me of a film set, I expected a bunch of zombies to walk round the corner, or some escapee prisoners to run out of the surrounded building that too also appeared deserted.

“Now” ordered Breman, we ran into our positions surrounding team two as we entered the building through a broken down window. Silence surrounded us in the dark rooms, there was nothing about whatsoever except maybe an overturned chair or broken table. Moving through the rooms it all appeared the same, there was nothing but silence and dirty white walls, whatever the place was before the dispute in Iraq started, it certainly wasn’t now. As we neared some stairs and silently decided between us which way we should go (we kept in silence because we wanted the element of surprise) there was a gunshot and raised voices from a floor below us. Nodding to each other we shuffled down a step at a time, our footsteps and heavy breathing the only sound around us. As my breathing picked up with adrenaline and fear I knew that at any moment we would come face to face with those who had kidnapped the hostages. There wasn’t any way it could be someone in our squad since we were the first ones to come in.