Long Shot | 13 Hours: The Secret Soldiers of Benghazi

Chapter 12

Leaning over the edge of the roof, I drew in a deep breath as a rare gust of cool breeze blew through my messy, half hanging down hair. I was covered in sweat, soot, dirt, and even some blood, but somehow, despite the chaos of that evening, I knew where each of it came from. The sweat was from the overbearing heat that I, and the other guys, had been running and fighting in all night long. The soot was from when Jack, Rone, and I had run into the burning building looking for the Ambassador, which resulted in me feeling that I was going to burn to death for a good five minutes or so. The dirt was from the explosives that had been going off all around us all night long, which shot up dirt and other substances onto my skin and clothes. And finally, the blood came from a few different places...some of it was my own from the various cuts I had collected, but most of it belonged to the men who had been trying to kill me.

"Hey. You see that?" Jack's voice came over the radio, startling me a little bit. "At the end of Smuggler's Alley. Take a look."

Grabbing my helmet, I shoved it onto my head and flipped down my night vision goggles so I could see better. When everything that once was just moving shadows became actual images in the distance, I watched as a few cars and one large bus drove into the field and came to a sudden stop. People jumped out of the vehicles, and it was no surprise that they were holding guns by their sides.

"Could be a second front forming." Oz suggested.

"Or an audience gathering to watch the show." Rone gave a different, but equally worrisome theory.

Walking over to me, Tanto crouched down so he could see for himself what all the fuss was about. "Hey, Chief." he grabbed his radio. "I know you've had some pearls of wisdom tonight, but are we expecting any friendlies? I got a lot of movement out here."

We waited a few minutes for a response, but when none came, Rone and the guys on the roof with him jumped into action and started getting ready for another attack. Taking the time I was given, I ran back over to where my stuff was and frantically put my gear back on, along with properly securing my helmet.

"Chief, tell them to get the Hellfire on that Pred ready." Tanto informed Bob.

Moving over to my sniper, I flipped my goggles up for a split second so I could peer through the scope, but after seeing what I did, I kind of wished that I hadn't. Men were everywhere again, all at once, climbing over the small stone walls in the distance and moving towards us again.

Then finally, after what felt like an eternity, Bob's voice came over the radio. "Be advised, ISR saying that cars and bodies are massing in the parking lot to our west."

Tanto scoffed. "Yeah, Chief, I just put that out over the radio about two minutes ago. Tell the ISR guys they're pretty much worthless."

I felt a small knot twist in my stomach as men continued to come into view. Despite this looking exactly like how the last attack had started, something inside of me said that this one was going to be a lot rougher and a lot longer. "If we die tonight, I just wanna let you guys know that it's been an honour serving by your sides these past few weeks." I confessed as I pulled the straps on my vest out of habit and started to reload my weapons.

"No one is going to die." Rone told me, but I could hear the uncertainty in his voice. "Well, no one else is going to die."

"I know." I agreed to calm his nerves. "I know. Just in case."

Swallowing hard, I watched as a group of maybe fifteen men ducked behind the pillars, the ripped sheets of fabric that hung from them providing a distraction, but no cover whatsoever. "Chief, we got thirty guys approaching." Oz nearly whispered.