part0030

The Osprey Tiltrotor lowered its rear loading ramp, letting the buffeting winds sweep through the interior. While the gunner let loose a volley of tracer rounds with his M240 machine gun, Tyler, with Safiya strapped to his harness, rappelled to the ground. Caine followed close behind. They hit the rocky surface in less than five seconds, detached the ropes and sprinted for cover. It was dark, and Caine didn’t think they’d been spotted.

No one's shooting at us, he thought.

The Tiltrotor hovered above. The gunner fired again, and dropped a few grenades. The aircraft swooped over the area, repeating the process a couple more times at different locations. Gunfire streaked up from the shadowed rocks, pelting the side of the Tiltrotor. When the aircraft finally sustained damage, it lifted and flew east. The crew had done what had been asked of them. They had rattled the cage. The Taliban rats had emerged from their caves, furious and eager to retaliate.

Caine and Tyler watched the carnage unfold through their night vision goggles. The Taliban had taken significant casualties from the Osprey’s assault .

“Perfect distraction,” Tyler whispered.

Caine nodded. “Hopefully they’ll be too busy searching for the Osprey to see us coming.”

“You wait here,” Caine instructed Safiya. “If you see the trucks drive out with the children, meet us on the road down there.” He pointed towards the trail that led out of the rugged terrain. “If we’re not back in two hours, get as far away as you can. You know where to go?”

She nodded. “There is a village nearby where I have family. My sister.”

“Good, then we’ll be off.”

“Good luck. And Thomas… Allah praise you for what you have done.”

He put his hand on her shoulder. “This nightmare will all be over soon, Safiya, I promise.”

Then he and Tyler turned, and disappeared into the shadows between the rocks.

Tyler and Caine descended down the side of the mountain, taking quick, quiet steps. Their M4 assault rifles were fitted with silencers. Shooting would attract minimal attention. Failing that, their twelve-inch carbon steel-bladed tactical knives and .45 ACP semi-automatic pistols could do the job just as well.

The first insurgents they encountered didn’t see them coming. They were too busy making shrill noises and waving their AK-47s in the air. Caine and Tyler paused and aimed with their rifles. Double tap shots silenced them quickly.

As the men struck the ground, another Al Qaeda fighter caught a glimpse of them from the corner of his eye. He spun around, firing off a burst from his AK. His shots went wide and missed them completely. Tyler didn’t even stop moving as he put two bullets into the man’s chest, then another into his twitching corpse .

No one else came to investigate. The other insurgents were too busy shooting into the skies, trying to take out the Tiltrotor that was long gone.

“What does this Khaldun look like again?” Tyler asked. “Ugly, I bet.”

“Very,” Caine replied softly over the mic. “Left side of his face is burned by an IED that went off too soon. He’s hard to miss.”

As they drew closer to the center of the base, they saw more insurgents darting through the shadows. But with the help of the night vision goggles, they were able to move silently through the darkness. No one saw Caine and Tyler coming. Their rifles barked quiet death as they made their way past the men. A dozen terrorists were silenced permanently, and without anyone noticing.

Eventually they came upon the main section of the camp. The towering rocks were lit up by flickering camp fires. Men in thoobs and turbans proudly carried their AK-47s, and displayed their Janbiya knives in belt sheaths. Caine counted twenty-two. Tyler repeated the same count. The Taliban seemed to be regrouping now that they realized the Osprey was gone.

“Two o’clock.” Caine whispered the direction. “Two ridged cattle trucks.”

“I see them,” Tyler said, as his eyes locked on the pair of vehicles.

“Two should be enough to drive out the kids.” Caine reloaded his rifle with a fresh magazine.

“If we can find them.”

“We’ll find them,” Caine said firmly. “But we need Khaldun first, for the data stick.”

“That must be him.” Tyler pointed out an elderly man with horrific scars on his face, exactly as Caine had described. The man’s cheeks looked sunken and collapsed. He had lost muscle mass as well as skin. In profile, Khaldun resembled a desiccated corpse. He pointed and gestured wildly, and appeared to be arguing with a squad of his men .

“Whew… definitely not his good side,” Tyler whispered. “Lot’s of targets between him and us. We’ll need to take them out first.”

Caine scanned the small valley in detail. There was a single road exiting the mountains, which would be how they would drive out. Caine also noticed water channels cutting through the rocks. They were designed to flow downhill, branching off into multiple paths. All but one of the junctions had stones in them to stop the flow of water. These channels no doubt led to villages lower down the mountains.

That’s one way Khaldun’s Al Qaeda cell makes their money , Caine thought. They take bribes to release the water for the communities downstream.

Caine traced the channel up the side of the hill, where it disappeared into the dark rocks. He knew many settlements in the Middle East had extensive water tunnels like these. They were constructed in mountains and deserts to control the flow of water from rain catchment areas into the more arid regions. These tunnels might be hundreds of years old. They could extend for hundreds of miles, and there would be no light down there.

Caine and Tyler watched for a few minutes, guns aimed down at the insurgents. They waited for an opportunity.

Eventually it came, but Caine didn’t like it. Khaldun concluded his heated discussion with his men, and disappeared inside the water tunnel.

“You see that?” Caine asked.

“Khaldun going to the mountain? Guess Mohammad isn’t coming to him.”

“I’m going after him. You set up a series of explosive charges like we planned. When I return, blow them to cover our escape. And remember, I won’t be coming out alone.”

“What makes you think the kids are in there?” Tyler hissed back.

“I don’t see anywhere else they could be hidden. They have to be in there somewhere. ”

Tyler glanced over at him. A bead of sweat ran down his face. “You sure about this? Going in there alone?”

Caine kept his eyes on the camp below. “I made a promise. I intend to keep it.”

“Two pairs of eyes are better than one. Let me—”

Caine shook his head. “I need you out here. Stick to the plan. Give me one hour. If I’m not out by then, find Safiya and get away from here.”

“Roger that. And Caine… good hunting!”

Caine sidestepped down the steep, rocky hill, then kept to the shadows as he approached the tunnel. No one guarded where the channel poured water from the mountain, so he walked straight into it. Ten feet in, the water rose up to his knees. He placed the data stick in a waterproof pouch provided to him on the Osprey, and sealed it for protection against water damage.

The stream soon became waist high. It was cooler than he expected. The flow was fast, and he had to push against the current. As he moved forward, the tunnel narrowed. Soon it was barely wide enough for a man to pass through. The roof was low and he had to crouch. The cool water sloshed against his chest as he waded further into the darkness.

A hundred feet. Two-hundred feet. Five-hundred. Soon he couldn’t get a radio signal. Eventually, even with the night vision goggles, he soon couldn’t see anything. There was no light to amplify. The world of illuminated green light he saw through the lenses faded into blackness.

He felt his other senses come into play. The bubbling, flowing water grew louder. The air held a damp, fresh taste to it. The blood thundered in his temples and the hairs on his neck rose high. Every instinct he had screamed danger… Death awaited him at the end of this tunnel.

Despite the tricks his mind was playing on him, Caine kept advancing. He estimated he had travelled over a mile. At one point, something long and slimly slipped past his legs. He assumed it was a snake, but he didn't stop advancing. Then the sensation was gone. Whatever it was, it disappeared into the dark water.

He was starting to think entering the tunnel had been a mistake. But Khaldun had come the same way. The older man did not have much of a head start on Caine, and wasn’t nearly as fit. Caine knew he had to keep going; the old man had to be down here.

A few minutes later, he heard voices echoing off the rocks. Men whispering. Low, hushed conversations in Arabic. Then he saw light. Dim and flickering, like a candle in the shadows.

Caine ducked low in the water and advanced. He held his M4 up over his head to keep it dry and battle ready.

Finally, the cramped tunnel opened into a cave. Caine counted three men on a ledge. Two young soldiers, dressed like the insurgents, held Russian AK-47s at their sides. The third man was Khaldun. The honeycomb mass of scarring that disfigured one side of his face seemed to glow red in the candlelight.

Assessing the situation, Caine noticed the water channel disappeared again into the far side of the rock. This place looked to be some kind of storage area. But storing what? Caine was not close enough to see.

Hidden in the water, and in the shadow of the tunnel, Caine aimed his rifle. He squeezed the trigger, quickly putting two bullets into the heads of the two Al Qaeda soldiers. They were dead before they heard the sound of his shots. Before Khaldun could even move, Caine pivoted and fired again. He shot Khaldun twice, once in each calf.

The maimed bomb maker fell to the ground, howling in pain.

Caine listened for other soldiers who might have been out of visual range, but he heard nothing. No one came to Khaldun’s aid. Caine advanced, sweeping his rifle across every nook and cranny of the dark cavern. Then he climbed out of the channel, and stood over his fallen enemy.

The Al Qaeda commander spat at Caine. His gnarled hand drew his Janbiya knife, an ornate blade forged with a rhinoceros horn grip. Khaldun cursed and swung the steel blade, but Caine stood just out of range.

Caine sighed. He slung his rifle over his shoulder. With a single, fluid motion, he drew his M45 pistol and put a bullet through the terrorist’s hand. The man screamed again. The knife fell away with a clang, then dropped into the water.

Caine checked the cave. No one else was coming. It was just the two of them.

“Where are the children?” he demanded. His Arabic wasn’t as good as Kimberly’s, but it was enough.

Khaldun cursed him, his eyes wide and manic.

Caine ignored him. He looked up as voices rose in the darkness. Many distant, tiny voices. Young children, calling out in Arabic for help.

“Never mind.” Caine put two bullets in Khaldun’s chest, and one in the head. The terrorist’s body twitched for a few seconds, as blood gushed from the wounds. Then he froze, and lay lifeless on the cold, wet rocks.

Caine listened again for the calls. What he had thought was a shadowy wall was actually a passage carved into the rock. He picked up a candle and advanced. Soon he came across a cavern, blocked with a wooden door. He forced it open. Dozens of tiny bodies poured forward. Young boys… the children.

They didn’t wait for instructions. They jumped into the water and disappeared downstream.

“Mohammad Naaji?” Caine called out to each boy as they passed. “Hussein Naaji?” Most shook their head and kept moving. One did stop, barely eight-years-old, and looked up at Caine. He was dirty and thin, but most of all he was terrified.

“I’m Hussein?” his trembling voice said in Arabic.

“I’m with your mother, Safiya. ”

“My mother is here?”

Caine nodded. “Yes, I’m going to take you to her. Pass the word down the line. When we get outside, wait at the cave entrance. Don't enter the camp until I give the word. My soldier friend and I are going to cause a distraction. Explosives, like fireworks. You all have to get into the trucks, okay? Then we’re going to drive you back to your families.”

“You are American?” came a second, older voice.

Caine turned and laid eyes on what was clearly Hussein’s older brother, Mohammad. He saw their mother’s eyes staring back at him. Their faces held the same hurt and fear she had carried the whole time he had known her.

“Yes. I’m with the U.S. Government. This is a rescue mission.”

Mohammad nodded. “Okay. We will pass the word on.”

“Thank you. Now let’s move!”

Caine waited until the last boy waded down the channel. He counted thirty-seven bodies passing before him. He followed them in the cool water.

As soon as he had a signal, Caine radioed ahead.

“Sergeant Tyler, I have the children and the data stick. We’re making our way to the exit, over.”

Tyler’s voice crackled back. “Roger that. I already thinned the herd a bit out here. Some wandering sentries. Amazing what a man can accomplish with twelve inches of high quality steel. Standing by for your signal.”

Caine grinned in the darkness.

The mass of children huddled near the tunnel’s exit. Caine jogged up and peered through the opening. He saw the camp fire, still crackling in the distance. Only about half as many men gathered around it as before.

Tyler had been busy.

Caine reloaded his weapons, then turned to the children. “Okay, no one moves until I say. Understood? ”

Mohammad and Hussein nodded. The boys whispered instructions amongst themselves.

Caine lifted the radio to his lips. "Tyler… light it up."

“On it…” the voice answered back.

The rocks shook, and dust filled the air. A series of explosions erupted around the edges of the camp. The fireballs were almost blinding in the dim light.

A few of the terrorists who sat near the outskirts of the camp were consumed by the explosions. Their charred bodies flew through the air. The remaining men leapt to their feet, firing their weapons wildly into the darkness.

Tyler’s silenced shots dropped men left and right. He was cutting a path through the confused, leaderless soldiers.

A path for Caine and the boys.

Caine fired twice, taking out the men closest to the tunnel.

“Move!” he shouted.

He charged forward, and the boys followed behind him. Caine pivoted left and right, spraying fire on the few men that remained. Many of the terrorists had fled into the rocks. They were young foot soldiers, inexperienced and lacking confidence without a leader. Without Khaldun spurring them on, their resistance was feeble at best.

Caine and Tyler ran the children to the two cattle trucks. He counted them again. Still thirty-seven. “You two,” he said to Mohammad and Hussein. “Sit up in the front with me, okay?”

Caine and the two boys piled into the front seat of the truck. More children leapt into the back. He started up the engine and the vehicle rumbled to life. They raced out of the camp, kicking up a cloud of dust in their wake. Caine took the lead, with Tyler and the other children in the truck behind.

They turned a bend to find Safiya Naaji waiting in the road. She stood in the glare of the headlights, staring at the truck with trepidation and hope .

Caine swung open the door. “You'd better get in… I have two boys up here who’ve been waiting to see you.”