GATE: Worlds At War

The Black Death

"And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, come and see. And there went out another horse that was red. And power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the Earth, and that they should kill one another. And there was given unto him a great sword." – Revelation 6:3-4

LOCATION: IRAQ – AL-HAWIJA DISTRICT – HAWIJA

DATE: MARCH 17, 2013

TIME: 11:47:04

Located approximately one hundred and eighty miles North of Baghdad is the city of Hawija. It is the center of the Al-Hawija District of Central Iraq and has seen its fair share of violence over the last decade – especially during the US invasion of Iraq.

Ten miles outside of Hawija was the US Forward Operating Base: K33 that housed a few thousand soldiers, vehicles, and aircraft from the 3rd Infantry Division's 1st Armored Brigade Combat Team and 3rd Combat Aviation Brigade. They were tasked with overseeing the city and help keep the peace and order, and to keep a close eye on the city for any Islamiyah Liberation Front activity in the area but that changed when ODA 5211 was deployed there not five weeks ago. They were here for one reason and one reason only: Kaarim al-Abdelnour.

Kaarim al-Abdelnour – a nasty piece of work, a religious fanatic and one of Khaled Al-Assad's top lieutenants, and his personal executioner before his death at the hands of Captain Price. Kaarim, along with a few other members of Al-Assad's cabinet, managed to escape the nuclear blast and start a new organization.

Kaarim's reputation was that of savagery even before Al-Assad's rise to power. He enjoyed inflicting pain upon others and took great pleasure in mutilating them. His most preferred method of torture was using a blow torch to melt his victim's flesh off.

Presently, he acts as the ILF's primary enforcer and commands an estimated seven hundred fighters in his cell – all of whom are as sadistic as him.

ODA 5211 has earned a reputation as being one of the most capable in the 5th Special Forces Group and were hunting Kaarim for weeks now but now, they would not hunt alone. Together with them were three teams – Alpha, Bravo, and Charlie – from 10th Special Forces Company of the Philippine's Special Forces Regiment.

For the Americans, this was just another mission. For the Filipinos, this was personal.

It was just speculations but there was evidence that indicated that Kaarim al-Abdelnour was one of the principal suspects linked to the 2009 SM Manila chemical attack in the Philippines by pumping Chlorine gas into the mall's ventilation system during their busiest time of operations. Hundreds of innocent men, women, and children died in extreme agony while thousands more were left with their respiratory systems ravaged almost beyond repair.

It was one of the worst chemical attacks in recent memory and understandably, the Filipinos wanted payback. It took some serious negotiations and politicking but the Philippine President had gained authorization from NATO officials to send in a limited number of troops to assist in the mission.

ODA 5211 and the three teams had been hunting him for months now and every time, he escaped their grasp to inflict more carnage. From the intel the Green Berets got from the informant in Sabaa Al-Bour, they tracked Kaarim down to somewhere in Central Iraq...but it was a big place. They were lucky because they have cornered him in Hawija and had evacuated the civilians...but there were still more than a few stubborn people there.

Today, a platoon of soldiers reinforced by ODA 5211 and Alpha Team were patrolling the Industrial District of Hawija. The idea was to go door-to-door on every structure in the city and flush the insurgents out. Dangerous work but it had to be done and the Americans already suffered thirty casualties in the last week alone.