Chapter 37

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Trigger Warning: there's some violence in this chapter.

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The sun beat on his back, seeping through the layers of his clothes, and spreading torching warmth through his body, but still he remained focused on his task.

He had taken the overwatch position as the most accomplished sniper on the team, he wanted to be there for them instead of in the control room watching from a screen.

His scope and rifle were set up facing the building they were reconning. It was a nondescript den, small but full of vicious vipers. It was where a small group of terrorists were running an operation that smuggled people across the desert, into Libya and then finally into Europe if they were lucky.

Most victims ran out of money on the long journey across North Africa, the evil cartels no doubt raising the goalpost for funds as they progressed. The women were sold to brothels to work off their debt and the men were sold into modern day slavery in Libya. It was one of the most evil things he had ever heard and today he had a chance to destroy their base.

Dan, who was taking lead on the operation on the ground, gave the order to breach the door. They set the timer and a dull thud could be heard as the door collapsed off its hinges.

The team of 6 entered the building swiftly, Gabe could hear their chatter through the comms line as they cleared the building, room by room.

They found four men in the building which they brought out and bundled into the waiting French humvees. They destroyed drugs, gathered hard drives and documents and then doused the building in gasoline watching it catch fire and grow into a small controlled blaze.

Gabe spotted some activity coming down the narrow pedestrian road. An open top jeep, the driver obscured, with men hanging off the side bars. "Bravo 1, this is overwatch you've got a party headed your way," Gabe informed Dan. "I'm going to take them out, look out for any stragglers."

He noticed the AKs strapped to their backs, he waited a beat so they got closer to the building. He wanted to be able to know with confidence that's where they were headed before setting up his scope and squeezing the trigger until all the targets were eliminated.

"Bravo 1, all tangos down. I say again, all tangos down."

"Roger that, let's get out of here. Calling for transport."

Gabe got up from his position lying on his belly. His muscles protested when he stretched and felt the tactical clothes he wore saturated with sweat. It was so goddamn hot in this country, a thick oppressive heat with no wind and no let up. The air was heavy with sand particles and they got everywhere. Face, fingernails and even gums. The sooner he could leave this place the better.

The cell they had taken down today was the last of a long exhaustive list of targets given to them by Ty's employer who had been subcontracted by the US government.

Gabe reported to three different entities, the private contractor, the US government via an intelligence liaison and the French. The layers of bureaucracy drove him to the brink of insanity. If it wasn't for that he'd have been at home by now. Gabe was a hundred percent certain he wanted no parts of contracting when this was over.

"You wrote a will, you sick idiot and left it for me to find? When I see you I'm gonna kill you." Gabe winced as her angry voice bellowed - well bellowed as much as she could in her soft, feminine voice down the phone line.

"You're going to kill me?" He couldn't take that kind of threat from her seriously. She couldn't hurt a fly if she tried.

"That's what I said. Did I stutter?"

Gabe laughed. "Yeah, okay babe. Don't act like you're not gonna be begging for my —"

"Sir, the French intelligence liaison is here to see you."

"Babe, I'm gonna have to go. I'm going to try and give you a call later. Don't go to sleep. I wanna talk to you."

He wanted to speak to her before he left for the North of the country. Where they knew Ty was being held. This was going to be finished one way or another by close of business tomorrow.

"Okay, Gabe. I love you. Stay safe."

"I love you too, Beautiful. Be good."

The meeting with the French liaison was brief. They were working out what support they could offer in the event that things went left during the rescue raid. They had promised a quick reaction force and a helo. For Gabe it was good enough to greenlight his operation.

"We have new intel that they plan to move Ty tonight. There's new chatter across our networks suggesting there's going to be a big exchange. If we're going to get Ty it needs to be tonight and we need to go now." McCarthy said.

Gabe shared a look at Dan. Her intel had been good so far. It had guided their operations, and they had all been considered successes. Should they trust her one more time with their own lives and that of Ty's? They had no choice.

Gabe turned to the French liaison. "Informez votre commandant que nous devons accélérer cette opération."

"McCarthy, I need you to get us a helo for infil, we won't be quick enough by car."

"Already on it, Captain. I've got an Apache waiting 2 clicks out. We're ready when you are."

"Dan..."

"Let me guess, you're taking Bravo 1 on this?"

Gabe smirked. The adrenaline was starting to pump in his body, he loved the quiet moments before a battle as much as he loved being in it. "Plenty of fun to go round Danny, but this op is mine."

Dan rolled his eyes but grinned back. "Aight man, let's get it."

A further couple of minutes, where everyone got themselves and their equipment ready and they were off. Armed to the teeth and with a million in cash in a duffel bag. It was going to be an interesting mission no matter what happened.

"Has anyone got an iPhone charger?" Gabe asked over the roar of the helicopter rotors.

"Man, you're so whipped." Dan laughed

"You've seen my girl, you would be too." Gabe pointed out and Dan had to concede. "How is this an elite combat helicopter but it can't charge an iPhone?" Gabe asked frustration filling him.

"It's the military man," someone quipped to laughter and they were rising in the air, the force of their upward motion kicking up a tornado of sand below them.

"Did you ever think you'd be spending Christmas Eve in Timbuktu?" Dan asked Gabe when they landed.

Gabe chuckled. "No, but I sure as hell don't want to spend New Year's here."

They were going to wait until people had stopped streaming to the nearby mosque for the late afternoon prayers.

When the narrow streets were emptier they would make their way into the large residential mansion where Ty was being held. They were expecting them, but nothing in the rule book said they had to walk in through the front door.

Gabe gave the hand command for breaching the rear gate. They were inside in a flash, methodically combing the courtyard or any movement.

Two sets of footsteps could be heard. They were quickly eliminated with a silenced slug to the head. Their bodies slid to the ground. Gabe stepped over them, leading two of his team into the house through a window they had broken.

Dan and the rest were clearing the courtyard and the main entrance for anybody and anyone that could disrupt their plan.

It was smart to hide in plain sight. All the locals were sympathetic to their independence cause. But the light security had hurt them in the long room. It was easy to gain entry into the compound.

"Left side clear."

"Right side clear."

"Front door clear."

At finding out that their exit point was secure, Gabe and his men moved silently to the room, Ty was being held in.

They surprised the guard at the door. A quick knife slash to the throat had his
eyes widening and shutting before he could even make a sound. His body slumped over Hunt the team member holding him up, who then dragged the body away from the door.

Gabe faced his team member; Ellis who was young, barely 30 with more combat experience than he should have. They needed to get this absolutely perfect, or they'd lose their advantage.

Gabe counted down 3, 2, 1 with his fingers and they stormed the door. Putting bullets in anyone that didn't fit the descriptions of their hostages, about 5 men in total.

Ty was at the back of the artificially darkened room, with three other huddled bodies. All tied with zip ties and with black hoods on their heads.

"Took you long enough."

"Shut up, fucker. Bravo 4, untie them."

"Bravo 2, secure exfil we are go, I say again we are go."

"Bravo 1, we have a situation. There's a car full of Hajis heading our way."

"How many?"

"I can't tell."

"Call for the French QRF, we'll try to hold them off."

Gabe and Ty shared a quick glance before they sprung into action. "Your team good? Any injuries?"

"None."

Gabe handed Ty a firearm, "Time to earn your keep."

He watched as the rest of the hostages grabbed guns from the guards they had eliminated. They made their way down the stairs, where shooting had already begun.

Dan and two of his subteam were discharging rounds after rounds from their MP7s at the front of the courtyard taking out as many of the enemy as they could.

"Bravo 4 and 5, I want you on overwatch upstairs."

"Yes, sir." Gabe was hoping they could pick off some of the enemy from a higher vantage point.

"Ty, you and your guys are with me." He led them to the rear door they had come in from and started shooting at the enemy combatants they found.

The enemy were dressed in typical Hajj gear. Long tunics, face wraps and cheap rifles. Gabe and his team had arrived just before the Al-Qaeda boys had come for the exchange. Relief and fear flooded his body. He hated to imagine what would have happened if they had been even a few minutes late.

"Bravo 1, they've bought a technical inside the compound," Hunt said from his overwatch position. That meant that Dan and his team had retreated away from the front gate. They had been overrun.

Gabe laughed wryly. So much for this being a simple extraction. In and out before anyone knew they were there.

"Bravo 4, hold on, I'm coming round the side of the building. Cover me when you see me."

"What are you doing?" Ty hissed.

"I'm going to take that technical out or we're toast."

"Let me do it."

"No way, you're the hostage. Fucking act like it."

He felt the bullets whizz past him. Some from his own team and some from the enemy. He ran a full sprint towards the machine gun mounted on the back of the Toyota hilux, the workhorse of every terrorist outfit.

It was being operated by 3 men. He took two of them out and the third one, the driver came at him with a fist after he knocked his gun out of his hand.

Gabe dodged it easily, returning his own punch to the liver. The man bent over in pain giving Gabe the opportunity to plant a bullet into his temple.

He crouched to the side of the vehicle, taking cover from the incoming fire. "The French say QRF is two minutes out," Dan informed him through the comms. He was on the phone to them.

"Thank God." Gabe muttered. Finally the end was in sight.

They had pretty much cleared the compound courtyard, when Dan gave him the bad news. "There's another vehicle incoming."

"Goddamn I'm getting tired of these Hajmobiles."

"But the good news is, the French are here. So let's get out of here in one piece," Dan said, ever the optimist.

"Bravo, this is Bravo 1, everyone reconvene in the courtyard for exfil."

Gabe joined Dan at the front gate, picking off two men that were shooting their way.

The French soldiers came out of their armoured cars making light work of the remaining attackers.

Gabe breathed a huge sigh of relief.

"You could have paid them you know?" Ty said nodding at the bag of cash Hunt and Ellis were still carrying.

"Where's the fun in that?" Gabe asked, craning his neck to see if there was a last man of their own in the courtyard. It was empty. They had pulled off the rescue with no casualties and all the hostages.

"Last man." Gabe announced climbing the back of the vehicle.

"Gabe, LOOK OUT." He heard a voice shout before his world went dark.


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*hides from being pelted with rotten tomatoes*
LOL I'm sorry but the storyline told me to do it!
Thank you for reading as always. I'm sorry for being lax with replying to comments this week, I had to go back to work after being furloughed. And I've been struggling to keep up (I liked being a lady of leisure) Let me know your thoughts!

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