by Dave Hazel
“I want to do my part to help Myk.”
“You will. You’re a radio guy,” Mykal smirked. “I don’t want you following me through the heart of the bad guy’s camp lugging that big ol’ radio along,” he added and chuckled. “Besides, the Hawkmen might be with me and we don’t want them to mistake you for a delicious little snack.”
“I hear you on that Myk. Munch munch,” he added and it started Mykal laughing. Mathis couldn’t keep from laughing as well. He knew he could always make Mykal laugh with that line. But this was more of a nervous laugh due to the situation at hand.
“Let me get the hell outta here,” Mykal laughed and pulled himself from his seat and went outside the vehicle. Mykal was surprised by the chill in the air. He wasn’t sure if it was as really as chilly as he thought it was or if he was just filled with an excited nervousness.
“Hey Mykal, we were just discussing some options,” Captain Diaz said when Mykal joined them.
Mykal looked at all those gathered. Lieutenant Finley, Gunnery Sergeant Ratner, Sergeant First Class Lemon, Marine Staff Sergeant Moreno, Green Beret Staff Sergeant Pinkerton who replaced Staff Sergeant Adrian who had been killed when Mykal almost died when attacked by Zizmon-Tarl’s soldiers on the 22nd of January. Two of the Army transport leaders were also present Staff Sergeant Barry and Staff Sergeant Feldman. The six Elves, Nordad the wizard, Norg the lone Dwarf and Lanorear the lone Hawkman stood with them. The Dosch brothers rushed to the little gathering when they saw Mykal joined them.
“Well first of all, have we gotten a better view of how the wall is manned? And do we know if there are any gates in the wall?” Mykal asked. He started because he wanted to take charge of the operation. He knew he could turn invisible, but couldn’t let on. He wanted to be careful because he didn’t want the men to be put in any danger and at the same time didn’t want to come across from their point of view as a John Wayne type of hero to do it all by himself.
“From what we have learned there is an entire army along the wall. Both inside and out,” Diaz answered. “If you will look over that way, where the fire seems to be burning a little brighter,” Diaz said and pointed.
Mykal looked at the fire that was several hundred yards away from the building where he believed Doninka was being held. “Yeah, I see it.”
“Right there is a gate,” Diaz continued. “Lanorear flew over there. He and his Hawkmen flew over the area and did some recon for us. There is a large double gate. It is a large wooden gate that is normally closed and locked, but with the army positioned on both sides of the wall the gate doors are wide open. Lanorear said we would be able to drive all six of are vehicles together, side by side, through the opening. That’s how wide the opening is. Lanorear believes, and after conferring with Hidtotim, he agrees also that the gates are open due to the fact the army is positioned on both sides of the wall, and their numbers are extremely large.”
“It’s like they don’t fear anything happening because of their size,” Lieutenant Finley added.
“Well good,” Mykal replied while he eyed the fire in the distance. Most of the little camp fires had gone out probably due to the fact the men would be sleeping. “This way we won’t have to blow the gates open to get inside there.”
“Lanorear said that there are many, many tents all along the outside of the wall and all along the inside of the wall,” Diaz said and looked to the Hawkman who nodded his agreement. “So our hope, and my prayer is, that they’re all sleeping for the night so we can tiptoe in there quietly and rescue her and get out of there unannounced.”
“Listen, I’m not trying to be a hero, I promise,” Mykal said and held up his hands because he knew what they were going to say at his suggestion. “But I think I should go in there by myself, find her and call for help only if I need it,” he said and a slight grumble started among all those who stood with them.
“That’s crazy Myk,” Roy Jr. objected. “If you’re gonna die a fool, I don’t have a problem dying with you bro,” he said and started to laugh. “I don’t want you to go in there by yourself man.”
“I appreciate that. I really do,” he responded and started to laugh to hide his frustration. “But after I went into that last camp I was able to get in and outta there after playing my prank without getting detected,” he said with a smirk because he knew he had a secret weapon they knew nothing about. He hoped his one-time experience of sneaking into the enemy camp would convince them to allow him to go on his own.
“But damn Myk,” Randy argued along with his brother. “You nearly died at that battle.”
“Okay, okay, you got me there, but that had nothing to do with me sneaking around inside their camp,” Mykal replied and looked to Towbar and gave a pleading glare for his giant friend to jump in and help him.
“Yeah but Myk, you could chalk that up to beginner’s luck,” Roy Jr. chuckled. “I don’t want you to go in there by yerself thinkin’ yer this and that only to have that damn army to swarm on you. If it comes down to it, I’m not afraid of dying with you bro. I just don’t wanna see you go by yerself.”
“You don’t know how much I appreciate that,” he said and couldn’t keep from laughing. He was frustrated because he had to maintain his silence on his secret which bolstered their side of the argument. He looked at Towbar again for the giant’s support and help.
“I do have confidence in my friend to go alone if that is his desire,” Towbar said. “We would have to be on the ready to come to his aid should he need it.”
“Mykal, I don’t think this is a good idea,” Lieutenant Finley objected. “I do understand your concern if a number of us went in there. That would increase the chances of one person making a mistake and creating a noise to get us detected. I understand that and I really appreciate that. But the flip side of that is we will be there for you should something happen and some soldiers happen to stumble upon you. There is strength and safety in numbers. And you have to remember we have some members of the Silent Killers here. We did one hell of a great job when we went into the Soso camp and pulled off the greatest heist this world has ever seen. I know we can do it again.”
The discussion went back and forth for several minutes. Mykal couldn’t divulge his secret that he had the ability to turn invisible which frustrated him tremendously because he knew he could pull it off on his own. He was aware he was starting to sound stubborn, selfish and self-centered and didn’t want to come across that way. The last thing he wanted was for the men to think that he thought more highly of himself than he should. That would in turn lead them to believe Mykal thought less of them than he actually did, but it all had to do with his magic secret that had to remain hush-hush. He couldn’t tell them the truth, but by not telling them the truth he feared he was going to put several men at risk and his sole reason for wanting to go alone was to protect the men under him.
Mykal thought through the list of men who were original Lost Patrol survivors and counting himself, Captain Diaz and Lieutenant Finley there was a grand total of fifteen Lost Patrol survivors left. He could only think of one or two of them who may have walked through the Soso camp as a Silent Killer. He didn’t want to waste any more time arguing with them.
“Alright alright alright,” Mykal said with a laugh and gave in. “I’ll take a dozen men with me,” Mykal capitulated and blew a sigh. “I’ll take a squad with me. Three four man fire teams.” He wished they understood he had a good reason to go by himself, but he was truly appreciative that they didn’t want him to tackle this task on his own. “I’ll take six Marines and six Army personnel. Find out from the men who want to go and let me pick them. Cuz I wanna get moving.”
After some discussion Mykal picked his team. From the Marines he picked Staff Sergeant Fuller, Private First Class Anka, Sergeant Kalhoun, Private First Class Ferria, Corporal Renner who was also one of the medics and Lance Corporal Cremona who was one of the four radio men. Mathis was disappointed that he didn’t get selected but Mykal was doing what he could to
selfishly keep Mathis safe and behind enemy lines.
He picked six US Army Personnel. Some of them he knew pretty well and some not that well. He picked three Green Berets; Staff Sergeant Campbell, Sergeant Freeman and Staff Sergeant Pinkerton. From the US Army Rangers he selected Sergeant McPherson, Sergeant Halderman and Sergeant Bush.
Right away Towbar declared that he would join them as did the Dosch brothers. Mykal didn’t want Roy Jr. and Randy to go along only because he was fearful something might happen to them, but they wouldn’t hear of it. They were going with him. The Hawkmen agreed to fly overhead to help in any way they could. Mykal wanted the Elves to come with him but they would be spotted right away as being ‘enemies of the state’ and they would be attacked on sight.
“So this is the plan,” Mykal spoke to the majority of the group gathered around to hear him. “Me, Towbar and the fourteen who are crazy enough to follow me,” he chuckled but was filled with a sense of pride that they all wanted to go with him. “We will all sneak into the grounds and find Doninka. Once we have her in our midst we will call. If we run into trouble we will call on the radio and tell you what we want. Have the men ready in the turrets with the Mark 19s or the .50 calibers cuz we might need some covering fire while we run for our lives,” Mykal joked.
“And if need be Mykal,” Diaz said but paused. He gave a serious expression while Mykal tried to joke his way through the finalization of the plan. “We can drive into the camp, pick your team up and drive right out of there through the mass of them.”
“That’s right Myk,” Lieutenant Finley joined in. “If you think you will face trouble, we’ll charge in with the vehicles while providing covering fire, pick all of you up and then skedaddle outta there,” Finley added with a southern accent to be humorous. “Then we will blast our way out of there and get far enough away for Towbar to use the green fog to take us home to the Pass. As a matter of fact, I’m hoping that before the sun comes up we’ll be back in the Pass and I’ll be sitting down to have an ice cold beer to celebrate our victory while these nimrods are still scrambling around trying to figure out what happened to them,” Finley laughed and held up his hand.
Mykal walked over to high five him. “I agree. This could all be over by the morning,” Mykal said joyfully now that Doninka could be in their midst in a matter of hours, not weeks or days. “Let’s get going.”
2.
As they walked single file through the wide open gate Mykal wished he would have come alone. Not only would he have walked through the gates invisible, but he craved to turn himself invisible. All the soldiers were out of sight and probably in their little two and four man tents sleeping for the night. Mykal knew this force was much bigger than the other forces they had faced in the previous weeks. Whereas the other groups numbered twenty-five hundred to three thousand, there were easily ten to twenty thousand soldiers in the immediate area, with thousands upon thousands more in the general area. Thankfully they all appeared to be sleeping. Who would dare to invade such a large force in an attempt to rescue one little girl?
Mykal was frustrated because he feared just one soldier being awake, or awakened by them and then all his men including Towbar and the Dosch brothers would be at risk. But he was comforted in the fact that his men were professionals. He could still hide and disappear and still rescue the love of his life -- ‘No! The daughter of King Loankore III’ he mentally corrected himself. ‘We’re here now and we’ll get her out of there together as a team,’ he argued with himself.
They made a straight line to the buildings and Mykal hoped there wouldn’t be any soldiers out and about. Even though all the men were wearing camouflage uniforms and covered in camouflage face paint they could still be detected if only one soldier happened to spot their train of men sneaking into the open grounds. They went in a straight line from the gate to the buildings directly in front of them. The ground they had to cover in the open was still two to three hundred yards with no cover or concealment between the gate and the buildings. But every other man was facing a different direction, keenly aware and looking for potential threats. Once they reached the building the men would be able to blend into the darkness to give Mykal time to find Doninka.
Mykal didn’t know which of the buildings Doninka was being held in. He would have to conduct a thorough but quick search to locate the princess prisoner. The only fact Mykal knew was that she was up higher than the ground floor. That would eliminate searching the single floor buildings but they would still have to search for her. This was another reason why he wanted to go by himself. Mykal could do the search all alone while in a state of invisibility, and not put the others at risk, but he couldn’t get them to understand he ‘had a better way’.
As they snuck along the buildings some of them appeared to be shops for some sort of business but they were all closed and dark. Mykal believed Doninka’s building would be the very last building and she would be up on the second, third or fourth floor. From where he stood the last building looked to be four floors high. He looked toward the wall that surrounded the grounds and saw hundreds if not thousands of little tents along the wall. If they were to be wakened he knew they would be in trouble. ‘Why wouldn’t they let me come here alone?’ He pouted in thought. But he knew they were looking out for him and didn’t want him to venture alone. He knew they were trying to protect him from himself. He just couldn’t let them know he had the ability to turn invisible, which if he would have turned invisible; he believed it would have made this little mission so much easier, with so little risk. He realized he was repeating his same complaints over and over and needed to stop because the mission was already underway. The negative effects from the magic of his ring reminded him of negative effects drugs caused drug addicts.
They made their way to the last building. Mykal heard a noise and was sure Towbar could pick up on the faint noise that the others couldn’t hear. It sounded like two men laughing and it also sounded like an animal whimpering. Mykal stopped the column and instructed Towbar to tell everyone there was someone or more than one person around the corner near them. Mykal was able to get ahead of the men and turned himself invisible. It felt like a relief when he was able to use the magic ring. It was almost like an alcoholic who was able to down a good strong drink, or an addict who was able to get his fix.
Mykal rounded a corner and saw a flight of stairs on the outside of the building. The stairs seemed to lead all the way up the building with different landings at each floor. There were in fact four floors. Mykal was sure this was the building Doninka was being held in. ‘Could these people be guards who were posted to guard her?’ He wondered.
The sight he saw when he walked into view sickened him. Two men were on the wooden stairs laughing. One of the two picked up a dog that looked like an English bulldog and he deliberately threw the animal down the wooden stairs. The two laughed callously as the animal thumped and thudded down the steps. When the animal reached the next landing the second person laughed as he kicked the helpless animal and then stood on the whimpering dog.
Mykal literally shook his head as if he couldn’t believe what he saw. He balled his fists so tight that he thought his skin would split. They were deliberately abusing a dog and laughing about it. The dog didn’t even try to get away. It whimpered and cried while it looked at the two. Mykal guessed they were the owners of the poor animal. One of the two actually stood on the back of the injured English bulldog. The animal cried and whimpered. The second person who threw the animal down the stairs actually ran down the steps while laughing and kicked the animal in the face. Mykal wanted to shout and pull his pistol and shoot the two creeps.
‘What the friggin hell is goin’ on here?’ Mykal wondered while the animal continued to suffer abuse at the hands of the two. He couldn’t believe his eyes when he saw one of the two actually jump up and down on the back of the bulldog. They actually laughed about it. The sad part was the animal didn’t even try to bite its attackers. It only whimpered and cried at the abu
se. They continued to laugh about what they were doing to the poor dog. Their cruel laughter grated on Mykal deeply and filled him with a blistering hatred.
One of the two, while laughing, picked up the battered animal and threw it down the next set of stairs. Watching the poor creature tumble downward caused Mykal to cringe and tighten with hatred. When the animal hit the landing it tried to crawl away and it was clear that the back legs couldn’t work. Mykal feared they broke the animal’s back and paralyzed the back legs. He watched the poor thing look up toward its abusers with big sad eyes. It couldn’t get away from them. Mykal’s emotions took over and part of him wanted to cry and sob over the abused animal. He knew the ring was playing with his emotions, but he truly hurt over the suffering of the poor creature. The other part of him was transforming into a monster of hate that he believed would leave a horrible path of destruction.
Mykal couldn’t believe his eyes when the two ‘low life scumbags’ rushed down to the animal and kicked it again, sending it down the last flight of stairs. “We won’t have to feed it anymore,” one of them laughed and the other stood on top of the battered creature once again. While one stood on top of the creature the other kicked the animal in the stomach which caused the creature to yelp out and whimper. The poor abused dog cried over the pain it suffered, but the animal still didn’t try to bite its attackers. Mykal couldn’t understand, unless they were the poor animal’s owners and it routinely suffered abuse.
Mykal wanted to cry out and he wanted to rip them apart with his bare hands. His emotions went to one extreme and he couldn’t prevent it. They were laughing at the abuse. Mykal knew the animal was crippled and couldn’t walk. Blood drooled from its mouth where a couple of the teeth had been kicked out. One of the sick bastards tried to pick the suffering animal up by its ears. His rage exploded inside his mind but he knew he had to remain quiet. Due to his rage he had a sudden vision of himself turning into something that would cause the Incredible Hulk to back off and yield to his monster. He knew he couldn’t control this thing that had to be let out.
