CHEEKHA DAR MOUNTAINS, IRAQ

The rescue team continued on through the night toward the caves, maintaining complete silence as they moved. Central command had warned Zach to be on the lookout for insurgents heading their way. The team switched to night vision goggles and constantly scanned their surroundings for the presence of enemy fighters.

Tony was on point. Zach and two Peshmerga fighters were in the middle, while Juan brought up the rear. It was mission critical for them to take out the approaching Taliban fighters before they could get a shot off or else the sound of gunfire would alert the kidnappers to their presence. If alerted, the kidnappers might kill the hostages, or possibly move them to a new location. Either one of these actions would be problematic on one hand and tragic on the other. There was no room for error.

Suddenly, Tony stopped and signaled the team to hold up and get down. The men slipped to the ground, attached silencers to their weapons, and assumed sniper positions. It wasn’t long before they saw three insurgents coming up the trail. Using hand signals, Zach indicated which terrorist each member of his team should take out as they had to drop them all at once.

Zach signaled the count. Three. Two. One. Everyone fired simultaneously, and three rebels fell to the ground. Without waiting, the team rushed forward and “double tapped” the men, then they pulled their bodies off the path, into the forested area to conceal the fact, a rescue was under way. No one spoke, but it was a big relief to know they had maintained the element of surprise. The mission could proceed as planned.

“Black Beauty, to base. Over,” Zach said. “Black Beauty to base. Over.”

“Roger, Beauty. Go ahead. Over.”

“Roger, base. Three bogies down. Moving to secondary target. Any traffic my way? Over.”

“Negative, Beauty. Clear to target. Over.”

“Copy that.”

For the first time Zach spoke out loud to the team. “All clear to target. Last pit stop before the attack. You need to lock everything down and be ready.”

The men acknowledged what Zach said, took care of business, and made one more equipment check.

“Black Beauty to Bees Knees. Black Beauty to Bees Knees. How do you copy? Over,” Zach asked, trying to raise the SAS team for the first time.

“This is Bees Knees,” came the reply from Rossi. “We have you Lima Charlie. Over.”

“Copy that. What is your status? Over.”

“We’re one-five mikes out. No traffic our pos.”

“Roger, Bees. Move to target and hold until further notice. Over.”

“Copy that. Knees out.”

Zach signaled the team to move out. They began their final ascent to the cave area, still under cover of the forest. Half way up the rocky slope, Zach noticed a flat area that could serve as an HLS, helicopter landing site. This site had not been apparent on the maps he’d studied back at base, but he could see the area was large enough for two Blackhawks to set down. This was a welcome relief since he wasn’t sure if Arianna or any of the other hostages were ambulatory. After the tiresome two hour hike they’d just made, it would have taxed his men to the hilt to have to carry victims back the same distance, although he would gladly carry Arianna for as long as necessary. He called in the co-ordinates of the landing site and then moved on toward their destination.

BY FOUR a.m., Zach’s team was in assault position at cave two on the west side of the mountain…the cave where it was believed Arianna was being held. They lay in wait a hundred yards in front and just below the entrance to the cave. The very last bit of the forest provided a minimal amount of concealment. Had it been daylight, there would have been no concealment at all, but it was dark, so no one could detect their presence. Zach was waiting for word that Rossi and his team had reached their assault position at cave one. The plan was for both attacks to be executed concurrently, but no word came.

The team had activated their night-vision goggles and silencers were still attached to their weapons, but no activity was observed at this location. Not even a snore, snort or hushed conversation could be heard coming from the cave. There could be two guards or twenty guards inside. The Predator drone lurking high above had no ability to pick up the heat signatures of people within the cave. The last intelligence report had noted six guards at this location, but that report was hours old. There was no telling how many kidnappers were inside.

Zach didn’t like the feel of things. Everything was too quiet. The fact there was no word from Rossi was even more troubling. Two clicks on the mic was the signal that Zach’s team was in position and ready to assault. The response from Rossi, if he was in position, was supposed to be three clicks back. Nothing. Being this close to the target, there was no way to talk without being heard. Rossi, if he were in position, would not be able to speak either, so back at base, they had established this as the communication procedure. The fact that no clicks came from the SAS team was a big red flag.

Suddenly, two guards came out of the cave. One man stepped forward and took a leak. It seemed if he stepped any closer, he’d be pissing right on Zach’s team. The other guard lit a cigarette and leaned back against the cave entrance, his AK47 at his side. Zach made a split second decision to attack. He didn’t know where Rossi was, but if he could get Arianna safely out of this cave, he’d worry about what was happening at the other cave later. He gave the signal, and two shots were fired from the silenced weapons. Both guards fell to the ground with a thud.

The team immediately rushed to the front of the cave, “double tapping” each man where he lay as was their custom. Next they moved silently inside the entrance. Tony led the way, followed by Zach and the rest of the men. All was quiet. With their night vision, they could see four more kidnappers in various stages of sleep. One man, half awake, saw the team and reached for his weapon. Zach took him out with a shot to the head. A couple more guards woke up and were killed before they could react. A fourth guard never woke and was shot where he lay.

Zach looked around and couldn’t find Arianna. Couldn’t see any hostages period. He frantically checked back into the dark recesses of the cave. No one. He flipped each body over to make sure they hadn’t accidently killed some hostage, thinking they were guards. Nothing. No hostages were found.

“Shit! Shit! Shit!” he exclaimed looking at his teammates. “She’s not, here. None of the hostages are here.”

“Bees Knees this is Black Beauty. Do you copy? Over.” There was no answer. “Bees Knees this is Black Beauty. I say again. Do you copy? Over.” He waited. No clicks back. No talking. No nothing.

“Fuck!” he cursed, and started toward the exit. Looking at the Peshmerga fighters who had gone in with them, he said, “Stay here. Clear and secure this target. Check the bodies for phones, and look around for any other intel lying about. When you’re finished, make your way to the HLS and wait for us.”

A Kurdish officer nodded. “Roger that.”

“Tony. Juan, come with me. We’re going to the other cave. There are no hostages here, and Rossi’s not answering. Something’s wrong. We need to get there fast.”