This post is a bit later than usual. I needed to spend some extra time wife my wife tonight after the events that happened at work.
We found out first thing in the morning that the CEO was coming back in the afternoon. Everything was quiet on the way to pick him up. The trip back proved to be very difficult. The fun began about halfway back from the pickup when Alpha team spotted some OPFOR on a rooftop that had been unoccupied twenty minutes prior. We drove as fast as we could to the building. The only way up the six stories without going into the building (and possibly finding A LOT of OPFOR) was to go up the fire escape.
On the way up I caught little blips of the pilot on my radio. The guys on the roof were able to pick up our frequency and started to scan for confirmation of the CEO on the slick. At one point the pilot said something about taking small arms fire from the opposite direction. I peeked over the edge of the roof to get an idea of where the OPFOR were at. These guys were smart. There were four of them split into two man teams that had about fifteen meters of space between them.
Listening to them for a second I found out that they were part of a coordinated attack. The small arms fire that was attacking the slick was one of their elements. I reported this to FTL Ramirez; who reported it to Alpha team. While they decided whatever it was they were trying to decide I sized up my situation. I knew that the fuse on a flash-bang wouldn’t last long enough to make it to the team on the far side of the roof, so I decided that I would send it toward the closer team. The problem was that when the flash-bang went off it would alert the other team; so they could provide covering fire on my position until the first team recovered. I decided that I would try to take out the further team as the flash-bang lobbed toward the closer one.
I pulled the pin on the flash-bang and lobbed. The primer handle released as it left my hand and I began my countdown. Six; I readied my weapon. Five; I took aim on the further team. Four; I exhaled. Three; I squeezed the trigger. Two; I could see pink mist come from the throat of one of the OPFOR. One; I made eye contact with the other one as I squeezed the trigger again. I could see the pink mist from behind his helmet as the bomb went off. I was far enough away to only have a slight ring in my ears.
Time slowed down and I watched as one of the guys that I had just blinded begin spraying rounds everywhere. He ended up putting a round in he teammate’s stomach. I put three rounds in his chest. The first one should have destroyed the clay plate under his armor, and the other two were to finish him off. I pulled myself onto the roof and walked up to the wounded guy with my rifle at the ready. He was talking to himself as I approached him, “I can’t believe that idiot shot me. You got what you deserved prick!” He spit at his lifeless team member’s body. He looked up at me; his tear-filled eyes made contact with mine.
He began to beg for his life. This was a first to me. He opened the front pocket on his vest and pulled out a picture to show me. It was of him with a woman and an infant. I began to think of my wife. I called over the radio, “Ramirez; all clear. What is the procedure for taking a prisoner? Over.” The slick made a radical move toward my direction. Ramirez called over the radio, “Sit tight. We are going to escort the VIP the rest of the way and come back for you; out.” I watched as the slick flew overhead and headed toward HQ. The SUV sped off as well.
About ten minutes had passed when I heard the vehicles pull up to the fire escape. I looked over the edge of the roof and counted five OPFOR making their way up the fire escape. I ran to the far side of the roof and took cover behind the roof access doorway. I called for help over the radio, but there was only silence. I decided to try and play whack-a-mole as they peeked onto the roof. My rounds bounced off of the top of the wall. Finally I ran out of rounds and had to reload. I heard a flash-bang go off on the other side of my cover. Quickly I pointed my rifle back around the corner of my cover and saw that three OPFOR were already on the roof. They noticed me and began firing. They kept me pinned down with a constant barrage of rounds. I threw a gas canister over my cover toward their direction to buy myself some time.
I tried to open the roof access door, but it was locked. I peeked back around the corner and saw that some of them were trying to put on their gas masks while the others covered my position. They were trained well. I lobbed my last flash grenade in their direction and waited for the bang. Flinging myself into the open I opened fire into the group of two closest to me and knocked them both down. The other three were over by their downed comrade I had ‘taken’ prisoner trying to stop the bleeding. I watched in horror as their bodies began to tear apart. I lowered my rifle and felt my jaw drop. The four men had been reduced to bits.
A harness attached to a rope dropped next to me and snapped me back into reality. I looked up and saw Geoff on the Gatling gun of the slick. I harnessed myself and was pulled up as we flew back to HQ. Geoff smiled at me and yelled, “Isn’t this thing amazing!” I shook my head yes. I tried not to throw up as I thought about the prisoner’s wife. She wouldn’t even get the pleasure of an open casket. His child would never get the chance to call him daddy.
