by Angus McLean
‘Todd, keep an eye on that young guy,’ he said. ‘I think he’s listening to you guys.’
He got a double click in acknowledgement.
Casting an eye back over his arcs and shifting the M4 in his grasp, Moore couldn’t shake the bad feeling in his gut. Maybe he’d been out of the field for too long, but this whole situation was giving him the shits. He spied movement from the corner of his eye, and looked just in time to see Mustafa disappear behind a hut near the head honcho.
‘Todd, the young guy,’ he radioed over the net. ‘He’s gone behind that hut, he’s up to something.’
‘Find him,’ Todd came back immediately. ‘We’ll distract the head man.’
Moore waited a moment before moving in that direction, keeping his eyes outwards to cover the flank, moving as if he was patrolling his patch. In his peripheral vision he spied the two Delta men showing a map to the two Iraqis and getting their full attention.
He got past the closest hut, out of their sight, and dropped any pretence of patrolling. He moved fast and silent, his M4 at the ready. He reached the hut where he’d last seen the young man and tucked up close to the side as he moved.
He could rushed Arabic in a low tone, urgent sounding. He ducked round the side of the hut and Mustafa appeared from his left, head down as he spoke quietly into a cell phone.
Moore wasted no time, ramming the barrel of his rifle into the young man's gut and causing him to double over with a whoof of air. He snatched the cell phone from the man's hand and put it to his own ear, but the connection had been cut already.
He shoved the phone in his pocket and grabbed Mustafa by the scruff of his neck, dragging him back around the hut into the communal area and throwing him to the ground. Mustafa curled into a ball, groaning, clearly expecting to be filled in.
Todd trotted over with Jerry at his side, both with questioning expressions. Moore produced the cell phone, waggling it in the air for all to see.
'Caught him making a sneaky call behind the hut,' Moore explained.
Todd pressed the talk switch on his radio, alerting the team. 'Heads up, got a spotter here. Eyes on.'
While the team immediately stood to and watched for threats, the three men stood over the fallen Mustafa.
'Who did you call?' Todd demanded.
The village headman scurried over, reaching out to the fallen man who was now clutching at his gut and milking it for all it was worth.
'No English,' the headman jabbered, 'no English.'
'Bullshit,' Moore snapped, 'he was listening to everything you said before. He knows damn well.'
'No English!'
Mustafa groaned loudly and tried to sit up before collapsing back pathetically. His eyes were screwed shut and his face was a mask of pain. The head man looked up at them, distinctly aggrieved, and in the background a woman began to wail.
'Get up,' Todd said, reaching out a hand to help Mustafa to his feet.
The wailing got louder and there was a crackle over the net.
'Incoming, Top, half a klick out from the west,' came the voice of one of the operators, 'two technicals, both loaded up.'
Moore looked that way and could see a faint trail of dust being kicked up by vehicles. The next instant came another transmission from a different soldier.
'Got the same from the north, Top. Got fifty cal's on the back.'
'Fuck it,' Jerry drawled, 'better get ready huh?'
Todd pressed his talk button.
'Remember the rules, boys,' he said calmly. 'Show the flag and let's find out if these guys are friendly or not.' He released the button and slapped Jerry on the shoulder. 'Go mount up.'
Chapter Thirty Nine
Jerry hustled off and Todd met Moore's gaze. 'Gimme a hand to…'
He was cut off by the sound of firing from the north, followed by a heavy burst from one of the DPVs. Villagers started scrambling for cover.
'Contact contact,' came the transmission. 'Two vehicles engaging us from the north.'
'Incoming from the east,' came Katie's voice, high and excited over the net. 'Got two utes…fuck!'
More shooting sounded, a heavy machine gun mixed with the light pop of an M4. Katie was obviously returning fire.
'What the fuck is a "ute"?' Todd asked as they both began to move.
'Pick-up truck,' Moore shouted over the din, 'I'll go check on her.'
He sprinted to the nearest hut and hunkered down behind it, peering round the side to get a visual on the threat from the north. All he could see was a lot of dust and a utility vehicle of some sort racing towards them, a heavy machine gun hammering out rounds from the back of it. All around was the sound of shooting, the deep slamming of the unit's fifty calibre machine guns, the thumping of a Mk19 as it belted out 40mm grenades, and the light cracking of an M4.
He realised Katie was probably the only one firing her rifle, the others either utilising the heavier weapons on their vehicles or realising the enemy were still out of effective range for small arms.
The villagers had all disappeared, he had no idea where to, but the centre of the tiny village was deserted. He wondered if they realised that the enemy fire wasn't selective-anyone in the way would get torn apart, whether they were Iraqi or American.
He ran in a crouch over to where Katie lay prone, and dropped down beside her. She squeezed off another shot before looking up.
'What're you shooting at?' he said.
'Baddies.' She pointed vaguely in front of her. 'At least one ute with a machine gun, could've been two, it was kinda hard to tell.' She looked almost indignant. 'They shot at me.'
'Yeah.' Moore settled himself and scanned for targets. 'They'll do that.'
Katie fired another shot beside him and he laid a hand on the receiver of her M4.
'Stop firing until you see a clear target. You're just wasting ammo.'
He scanned again, not seeing anything in the open ground in front of them. Shots still sounded from the unit's other positions, and he heard a burst of chatter over the net.
'Watch your nine, Knees…Roger, got 'im…It's getting' hot over here Top, we got three technicals at the west, guys everywhere…Roger, comin' to ya.'
Moore scanned again then rose to a knee, about to speak when he caught a flicker of movement in the open ground before them, maybe a hundred yards out. A scrubby bush twitched and grew bigger, then an insurgent with an AK appeared, running in a crouch from behind the bush to Moore's left. Moore brought the M4 up and sent a double tap his way without success, another guy popping up from behind the bush.
'That must be a big fuckin’ bush,' he muttered to himself as he sighted at the second guy and fired on him, missing again.
Both men had dropped down and were returning fire now, forcing Moore to drop flat again. Yet another man darted from behind the bush, this one coming forward before going prone, a fourth racing up past him. Moore took a bead on the fourth guy and put a round through his torso.
'Where the fuck are they coming from?' Katie shouted.
'Must be a spider hole or a tunnel,' Moore replied, hitting his talk button and sending a quick update to Todd.
He sniped single shots at the first guy who had appeared, seeing little puffs of dust kick up around the man as his rounds went wide. The sixth shot caused the guy to jump and lift before slumping to the ground again, his gun going silent. Rounds came overhead, whining off the rough ground and buzzing through the air. The shooting wasn't particularly accurate-yet-but the volume was increasing.
'Concentrate on the guy on your right,' he told Katie. 'Single shots, aim and squeeze. Anybody gets up, drop 'im. Yeah?'
'Yep.' She gave a nod without looking at him, tucked in over her rifle.
Moore crabbed sideways to reduce the target for the insurgents, taking a new position a few metres away. As he got down he saw another two guys emerge from the bush and split off in different directions, both firing from the hip as they doubled forward.
He sent a couple of rounds their way t
o keep them on their toes, then settled his sights on the slower of the two and clipped him as he went down. The man thrashed on the ground and fired his AK wildly in all directions. Moore left him to it-a wounded man occupied the enemy more than a dead one.
He shifted his attention to the bush itself, which he guessed had a hidey hole of some sort behind it. He loaded a HE grenade into the M203 launcher attached to his rifle, sighted and squeezed it off. The grenade arced through the air and overshot by a few metres, sending up a plume of sand and grit as it detonated.
The insurgents around it shouted between themselves and their firing intensified, a couple of them leaping up and charging forward as their mates covered them. Moore triggered several short bursts at them, seeing one of them go down but he wasn't sure if he'd hit him or not.
He reloaded the grenade launcher and adjusted his aim before popping it away. This one exploded in the bush itself and blasted pieces of foliage everywhere, exposing the mouth of a tunnel that had previously been concealed.
As Moore swapped out the mag on his rifle he saw another insurgent scramble out of the hole with an AK, followed by two more. They were like cockroaches, scampering quickly to cover, with more following behind.
The next thing to appear was a RPK light machine gun.
Moore chambered a round and sighted, pumping off a double tap at the machine gunner and winging him with the second round. Another insurgent grabbed the gun and darted off to the side to set it up. Moore focussed on him, getting off a few more shots before the incoming rounds forced his head down.
He hit the talk button.
'We've got an RPK over here Todd,' he said urgently, 'and about eight or ten enemy.'
The RPK opened up then and bullets flew overhead. Moore tucked down tighter, hoping Katie was doing the same.
'We're going to bug out,' Todd came back, his voice almost drowned out by the roar of a .50 in the background. 'The helo's are picking us up from the RV as soon as.'
Moore fired a burst at an insurgent moving positions before ducking down again and crabbing away to his left.
‘Each position drop smoke on the count of four,’ Todd instructed over the net. ‘As soon as it’s gone, move out fast but cover your ass.’
There were clicks of acknowledgement and Moore quickly rammed a smoke grenade into the breech of the M203. As the countdown in his ear finished, he fired it off and red smoke began to billow out as soon as it hit the deck.
‘Come on!’ he shouted to Katie, leaping up and letting rip several bursts at the enemy’s positions.
She raced back towards the Polaris and he emptied his magazine, automatically dropping it out and slapping a new one in, the movements fast and fluid and without conscious thought. He fired off another ten rounds then legged it after her.
Chapter Forty
Moore leaped into the saddle and fired it up as Katie perched on the back and grabbed the rack for support.
He kicked up a dust cloud as he threw a tight turn and raced away from the village. The pounding of heavy machine guns and grenade launchers was deafening and lead filled the air all around them. He subconsciously tucked his body lower as he opened the throttle and made ground.
After a hundred metres he braked sharply and skidded to a halt at the base of a low rise, turning side on to check behind them. Two of the Delta vehicles were peeling away while the remaining two gave cover. Moore recognised the nearest DPV as Todd’s. Jerry was driving, with one of the snipers up top as the gunner.
Moore could see the commander gesturing at him and pointing to his right.
He turned and looked behind them.
A group of three technicals were approaching, loaded down with men and rear-mounted machine guns, maybe half a klick away.
‘Bollocks!’ He revved the engine and took them over the rise, slapping Katie’s leg and pointing so she was aware.
As they accelerated he saw a shift in the angle the technicals were taking. Instead of continuing to come across to take them from behind they now saw the fleeing ATV and two of them broke off at an angle to intercept it.
With the RV only a few miles away they had no option but to just go for it. With the number of enemy on the ground, standing still to fight would mean certain death.
Moore throttled up and went for it.
It looked like the technicals had GPMGs of some description rather than fifties, which meant less range but probably more control-although handling anything on the back of a moving vehicle was a nightmare. Both guns opened up and tracer started arcing around them, well wide.
He risked a quick glimpse over his shoulder and saw Todd’s and the other DPV had stopped to give cover to the other pair, who were now haring towards them.
Another glance to his right saw the two technicals closing the gap, both machine guns still hammering at them. Some of the gunners in the back were also firing wild shots, completely ineffective at this range.
Moore realised that they were either going to intersect the enemy or be cut off by them, and the closer they got the more danger they were in from the machine guns. He scanned, spied a small dip up ahead to the right, and steered towards it, throttling back as they got closer.
He eased the ATV in and came to a stop, the dip less than a metre deep but hopefully enough to throw off the aim of the machine gunners.
‘What’re you doing?’ Katie shouted, deafened by the gunfire and engine noise.
Moore pulled himself up to the M240 on the front rack, checked the action and steadied himself.
‘We can’t outrun them,’ he replied, settling the stock into his shoulder.
The two technicals were slowing and starting to turn already, preparing to approach.
He wasted no more time, squeezing off a couple of short bursts to get his range in. After a small adjustment he sighted on the left hand vehicle, a red Toyota with about half a dozen gunners in the back.
Another was hanging out the front passenger’s window firing an AK wildly with one hand. They were maybe three hundred metres away now, well within range for him.
Moore squeezed a short burst and saw dust kick up beside the vehicle. He adjusted slightly and put the next burst through the side of the technical. He gave it another burst then a third, the Toyota slowing more and the machine gunner in the back ripping off a long burst that stitched the sky.
Moore focussed on the guys in the back and pumped three rounds into them, seeing one guy fall back into his comrades.
The next burst took the machine gunner and threw him over the side. The technical swerved but didn’t stop. Moore gave it a longer burst into the cab, shattering the windscreen and thinking he saw a spray of blood as he nailed the driver or passenger.
The technical swerved properly now, crashing into the side of the other Toyota, this one coloured a dirty white. The second driver steered away as his passengers cut loose, and rounds flew high over the ATV.
Moore raked the side of the first technical with two bursts as it turned almost completely side on, hitting at least one more gunner in the back before the technical hit a rut and dropped its front wheels, coming to a stop.
The second technical turned a full circle, kicking up dust, before accelerating hard at them head on.
Moore brought the M240 on line and put a short burst of 7.62mm rounds into the engine block. Steam burst forth and he hammered it again, seeing it starting to slow before he raised the barrel slightly and put five rounds through the windscreen.
He saw the driver slump but the technical kept coming, only two hundred metres away now. The machine gun in the back was hammering at them and he could feel the rounds cracking through the air, indicating the shooter was getting more accurate.
Moore snugged the stock into his shoulder and sighted at the silhouetted figures in the back of the technical. He stroked the trigger, the big gun jumping in his grasp.
The first burst went through the cab and took out the machine gunner. The second blew apart more of the cab and the technical start
ed to curve around, exposing the left side. Moore put a third burst into the back of the vehicle, seeing another body drop, before raking it with a longer burst and dropping back down into the saddle.
‘Hold on!’ he bellowed, completely deafened now.
Katie slapped his shoulder and he rode the Polaris up out of the dip.
The second technical was still cruising along of its own accord, but he couldn’t see anyone in it. He pointed the nose of the ATV in the general direction they had originally been going and opened it up, racing across the hard top with the wind and sand whipping at his face.
After a minute he slowed up to a stop and checked behind them. He could see the four DPVs chasing them, a dust cloud behind them. He could see a vehicle on fire somewhere in the background, black smoke billowing skywards. Rounds were still whizzing overhead and he realised that although he couldn’t see the pursuing technicals due to the dust and sand, that hadn’t stopped them from firing anyway.
Katie shook his shoulder and held out the GPS unit, showing him they were heading in the right direction and only a couple of klicks away now. He nodded, gave a thumbs-up and revved the engine again.
They led the way towards the RV and could see two Chinooks approaching. In theory they should be up and away within two minutes, but there was no chance of that happening with a gang of angry insurgents on their tail.
He pulled up short of the RV and turned the ATV to face the oncoming Delta operators. Katie unslung her M4 and dismounted, standing beside the ATV with the weapon at the ready. Moore put the M240 into the shoulder and waited, letting the DPVs get closer. He could see the pursuing technicals now, machine guns spitting wild fire.
An RPG flashed through the cloud and sailed off overhead. Katie ducked instinctively and looked at Moore with wide eyes.
‘What the fuck was that?’ she shouted. ‘A rocket?’
Moore nodded. ‘They love ‘em.’
A second rocket propelled grenade came their way, this one narrowly missing one of the DPVs and slamming into the desert floor, exploding in a burst of gravel and dust. The DPVs all took evasive action, cutting in different directions to throw off the shooter. The RPGs weren’t heat-seeking and it took a pretty good shot to hit a moving target, especially from an unstable platform.
