Retrieval

by Ethan Jones

  The driver shook his head.

  She glanced at the gate. It was about fifteen yards away and in the open. Too risky. “We’ll climb the wall, cut through the yard, come out in front of the target house.”

  Sabri nodded and repeated her words in Arabic for the driver.

  He thought about it for a moment.

  Bullets peppered the car while he was still contemplating their actions. A couple of the rounds pierced the car and struck the wall, just inches above their heads.

  “We’ve got to go. Now!” Claudia said.

  She stole a glance through the car’s shattered windows.

  A gunman was standing on the roof of the target house, shouldering a rocket-propelled grenade launcher.

  “Incoming RPG. RPG. Stay down, down.”

  She lay on the ground praying shrapnel would miss them all and spare their lives.

  The explosion came a split second later. Large chunks of cinderblocks and debris hailed over them. A cloud of dust began to swallow up everything.

  Claudia felt no pain. She thanked God that she was not hit, then shouted, “Is everyone all right?”

  “Yes, yes,” Sabri’s weak voice came amidst his coughing.

  “Okay, okay,” said the driver.

  “Good. Let’s go now that the dust is covering us.”

  Sabri nodded.

  “I’ll go first,” Claudia said. “Cover me.”

  She hoisted her rifle over her shoulder and, through the thinning dust veil, she stepped onto the hood, then the roof of the car. The wall was a couple of feet away. She jumped and caught the top of the wall with her hands. The sharp edges bit into her palms, but it was much less pain than shrapnel cutting through her body. She lifted herself up and cast a sweeping gaze at the yard. It was full of construction debris and a couple of rusty cars, but nothing suspicious. “It’s clear. Hurry up,” she said.

  As soon as she lowered herself onto the other side, Claudia returned the rifle to her hands. She studied the house, especially the entrance and the gaps where once the windows had been. The house was almost razed to the ground, but that did not mean no one was living there, or could not have set up a position inside the ruins.

  Nothing moved.

  She waited for a moment, expecting Sabri or the driver to drop next to her.

  It did not happen.

  What’s going on?

  A loud barrage came from the other side of the wall, followed by more gunfire from the distance. She turned around, then looked up, just as Sabri’s head appeared atop the wall. “Quick, hurry up.”

  “Yes, yes.” He jumped down and fell onto his stomach two steps away from her.

  “What happened?”

  Sabri cursed out loud.

  “Where’s Amir?” she asked, referring to the driver.

  “He’s dead.”

  Claudia shook her head. “Sorry. Let’s go.”

  Sabri nodded. “I got this side.” He pointed to the right.

  Claudia advanced to her left, toward the target house. Gunshots echoed from the alley and grew louder, as they came closer to the jihadists’ hideout. No explosions, but she stepped away from the wall, in case someone launched another rocket-propelled grenade, which could tear through the jerry-built wall. Her head turned left and right every two or three seconds, as she covered all angles. She gestured at Sabri to stay close to her.

  When they reached the wall separating them from the next house, she stopped and listened. Sporadic gunfire came from the alley. It made sense now that there was no return fire. She wondered if the ISIS leaders and their associates had already escaped from the safehouse. Let’s hope we’re not too late. Her mind raced to al-Razi and his team. How are they doing?

  She shrugged, then looked at Sabri, who had taken a knee next to her. Claudia said, “We’ll climb over, then secure positions by the gate.”

  “Got it.” Sabri nodded.

  “Good.”

  She sneaked a quick look over the wall. The yard was better maintained, and it seemed like someone was living inside the somewhat reconstructed house. Claudia wondered about the residents and whether they were former ISIS fighters or supporters. Even if that was not the case, they might overreact to seeing two armed people slithering through their yard. They would have to take that risk.

  Claudia whispered, “The house might have people. Keep your eyes open.”

  “I’ll do that.”

  She glanced over the wall again, then swiftly scaled it and jumped onto the other side. She readied the rifle again, but did not point it at the house. She stayed crouched and slightly protected by a couple of steel barrels set by the wall.

  When Sabri dropped next to her, she gestured toward the gate, which was about ten yards away. “Cover me.”

  “Okay—”

  A barrage cut off his words. Bullets pinged against the barrels, missing them by sheer luck.

  Sabri turned his rifle toward the house and stood up.

  “Get down. Down.” Claudia pulled him by his vest.

  The strong tug caused him to drop to his knees.

  That move saved his life.

  A string of bullets stitched the wall where he had been standing a heartbeat ago.

  Claudia squeezed off a few rounds at whoever was taking potshots at them. She had not seen the shooter, or shooters, but the direction of fire told her it was probably the first story windows on the west side. She aimed her rifle at the second-floor windows, then at the rooftop.

  There was no one there.

  “Go, go, go,” she called to Sabri and pointed at the gate.

  He crawled along the wall. At about the halfway point, he stopped and fired a quick barrage toward the house.

  Claudia turned her rifle in that direction. No targets, so she held her fire.

  Sabri reached the gate.

  Claudia shouted, “Stay there. Stay there.”

  Sabri gave her a thumbs-up gesture. He stood with his back against the wall, and his AR-105 rifle was pointed back at the house.

  “Friendlies, friendlies, we come in peace,” she shouted in English, then in Arabic.

  She doubted her words could be heard through the sounds of bullets thundering around her, but she figured it could not hurt. She took small, cautious steps as she covered the distance.

  No one fired from the house.

  She unbolted the black steel-plate gate, opened it just a crack, and glanced at the alley. A gunman dashed through the gate of the target house. He studied the alley up and down, but paid no attention to the slightly open gate and missed Claudia’s attentive eyes.

  “What’s going on?” Sabri said.

  “They’re leaving.”

  “We must attack.”

  “No, we’ll wait until we see the leaders.”

  “What if they’ve left already?”

  “I don’t think so.”

  The gunman waved at someone further up the alley, away from Claudia’s field of vision. A moment later, a black SUV drove in reverse. The gunman kept gesturing to the driver until he stopped perhaps two feet away from the gate.

  “They’re coming out.” Claudia pulled the gate open a few more inches. “Get ready.”

  The hinges creaked, but she doubted the gunman or anyone else could hear the noise over the SUV’s rumbling engine. The sound of gunfire came from the other side of the house, and Claudia wondered if that was al-Razi’s team still mounting the attack.

  Sabri pointed his rifle through the gap in the gate.

  Claudia said, “No, not yet. And stay back. Back, so they don’t see you.”

  Sabri nodded. “I know. I’m waiting.”

  Claudia dropped to one knee and aimed the rifle at the SUV. The gunman disappeared for a moment inside the house, so she moved the sight of her rifle to the driver. He was a bearded man in his thirties she had never seen before. She returned her aim to the gate and waited.

  The gunman dashed through the door and climbed into the back of the SUV.

  A se
cond gunman carrying an RPK machine gun stepped into the alley.

  Claudia said, “Watcher. Fall back. Back.”

  “Got it.”

  The gunman glanced around. His eyes focused on the opened gate. He frowned and brought up the machine gun.

  Claudia, who had been watching his every move through the tiny gap near the hinges, fell behind the wall just as the gunman opened fire. Bullets drilled through the steel gate as if it were cardboard. A few of the rounds thumped against the wall, carving sharp slivers, but none of them hit Claudia or Sabri.

  He nodded at her, then stepped into the gap. He fired a quick barrage, then withdrew.

  Claudia resumed her kneeling firing position and squeezed off round after round. One of them struck the gunman in the lower part of his chest. He must have been wearing a bulletproof vest, because the blow did not knock him off his feet. He continued his barrage, but it was less concentrated.

  Claudia moved the sight of her rifle up, then placed two bullets into the gunman’s head. He collapsed against the SUV, then fell to the ground.

  Two men darted through the door.

  Their faces were visible to Claudia for less than a second, but that was sufficient for her to recognize the ISIS leader. He was the first man, who had just climbed into the front passenger seat. “Target in sight. Fire, fire.”

  She leaped through the gap into the alley and tapped the trigger.

  The SUV barreled forward.

  Her bullets shattered the SUV’s rear glass or hit the back. She readjusted her aim, focusing on the tires.

  Sabri also let off a long barrage, but the SUV picked up speed.

  Claudia wished they had a rocket-propelled grenade from the ones they had loaded into the trunk.

  She kept firing until she emptied the magazine. She flicked the release lever, then slammed a fresh magazine into the rifle. She had jungle-taped them together, with the spare one inverted, so reloading took less than two seconds.

  The SUV was almost at the corner, perhaps fifty yards away.

  Claudia had maybe another three, four seconds at the most to stop the jihadists from escaping.

  She opened up again, firing two-round bursts.

  One of them must have blown one of the tires, because the SUV dropped to one side. Claudia could not be certain, although she hoped that was the case, and it was not a pothole. The SUV careened to the left, and its back hit one of the walls. The driver seemed to regain control, but only for a moment. The SUV crashed into the alley’s opposite wall as Claudia switched to fully automatic fire.

  The SUV erupted into a fireball.

  She was not sure if it was her bullets or Sabri’s, but it did not matter. Tall flames swallowed up the wreckage, while dense smoke rose up. Claudia turned her head toward the safehouse. She was not expecting anyone to still be inside, but they had to cover all bases. “Check the house.” She waved at Sabri. “But don’t go in.”

  “Got it.”

  She made her way to the wreckage, paying special attention to every window and gate around her. No one had been able to escape the crash and the ensuing explosion. She sighed and nodded to herself. Yes, we got one of them. Maybe the other one went toward al-Razi’s team. It’s time to check in with them.

  Chapter Twenty-two

  Judaydat al-Mufti Neighborhood

  In Front of the Jihadists’ Hideout

  Southeast Mosul, Iraq

  Al-Razi clenched his teeth while excruciating pain shot from his left arm. A bullet had cut through the outer part, mostly slicing through his muscle. But it had also struck his bone, and the bleeding was quite severe. One of the teammates had tied a tourniquet a couple of inches above the wound, and was finishing up with the bandaging.

  “I’m all right, now,” al-Razi said.

  “Another minute or—”

  “We don’t have another minute.” He pushed the man away.

  He looked around the bullet-ridden car at the front entrance to the safehouse. Two dead bodies were sprawled a few feet away from the door—ISIS fighters who had tried to escape. As expected, the rest had attempted to run away through the back. Did Team Two get them all?

  The other two men of al-Razi’s team were still clearing the safehouse. He wondered about the kind of resistance they had encountered. Relentless gunfire had echoed from the house and the back alley. Al-Razi was not sure how much of that was Team Two or jihadist rats making a last-ditch effort to save their useless lives.

  “Get in there, and give them a hand,” al-Razi said to the man packing the first aid kit.

  Before he could reply, Claudia and Sabri appeared through the front entrance.

  Al-Razi gave them a hopeful glance. “Tell me you got them all.”

  “All that were there,” Claudia replied. “But what happened to you?”

  Al-Razi shrugged and did not answer. He walked toward her. “What do you mean, ‘All that were there’?”

  “Only one of the targets was in the house.”

  “Who?”

  “Boustani. He tried to escape, as you predicted.”

  “We killed them all.” Sabri lifted up his rifle and fired a few triumphant shots in the air. “All Daesh rats are now scorched.”

  “Are you sure it was only Boustani?”

  Claudia nodded. “I’m positive.”

  Al-Razi’s face twisted in pain. Almost instinctively, he rubbed the top of his shoulder.

  “You all right?” She stepped closer to him.

  Al-Razi waved his hand. “Of course, this is nothing. Just slowed me down.”

  “They saw us coming and opened fire. The others didn’t make it...” She shook her head.

  Al-Razi cursed the Daesh and their mothers. “They ... they will pay for this.” He stormed toward the house.

  “They already have...”

  “No, the others. The ones who weren’t here. I will kill them all.”

  Claudia shrugged. She said nothing, although she wanted to tell al-Razi that they should have waited for Javin and Tom. She knew her words would only cause him more pain. Perhaps he has learned his lesson. She looked at Sabri, who returned the shrug.

  Claudia looked at the crowds that had begun to form in the alley. She examined their faces, trying to determine if there was any threat, if someone felt sorry about the dead ISIS fighters. After all, they were someone’s father, brother, son. As brutal and devastating as the ISIS regime had been, there were still many Iraqis who lamented their current shocking conditions and the apparent government neglect. Many praised the good old days when ISIS ruled the city, claiming there was safety, jobs, and order.

  Claudia shrugged. Some people liked autocracies. It was easier, as they did not have to think or choose. Some people are like sheep. They’re lost without a shepherd, and can’t find their own way.

  She scanned their faces for another couple of minutes, then her phone rang. “Hey, Javin, where are you?”

  “Five minutes out.”

  “Don’t rush. It’s all over.” She gave him a brief account of the events, starting with the ambush as soon as they neared the safehouse. When she finished, Javin asked, “Do you have any intel about the second target?”

  “Negative. Al-Razi and his men are searching the safehouse. I’m standing guard, and now I’m going in.” She gestured to Sabri to take her place and not allow anyone from the crowds to enter the safehouse.

  He nodded, and she took a few steps away from him.

  “What? They’re gathering intel on their own?”

  Claudia turned toward the house. “Javin, relax,” she whispered. “I took what I could before they got in.”

  As she was clearing the house, before coming to find al-Razi, Claudia had retrieved a cellphone and a couple of flash drives from one of the rooms on the second floor that was used as an office. A laptop and other documents were missing from the two desks set across from one another in that room. “I’m going straight in for a second sweep.”

  “Okay. We’ll be there right aw
ay. And we might have something that could help.”

  “What is it?”

  “I’ll explain when I see you.”

  “Be safe.”

  “Eh, I’ll try.” He let out a fake laugh.

  “Not funny. Be safe now.”

  “Yes, you be safe too.”

  She met al-Razi and one of his men in the hall close to the front of the house, and he was fuming. He let out a string of curses, then punched one of the doors. Blood had seeped through the white bandage wrapped around the wound on his arm, but he was paying no attention to it. “They took everything before they left.”

  “What have you found?”

  “Some paperwork and a few weapons.”

  “Maybe we’ll learn something about the other target.”

  Al-Razi said nothing. He cursed the jihadists again, and his entire body shook with frustration and disappointment. “This ... this went so wrong.”

  Claudia nodded. She stepped closer to al-Razi. “There’s still hope of catching them. I’m sorry about your men.”

  “Sabri told me everything you did. He owes you his life.”

  Claudia shrugged. “He would have done the same for me or anyone in the team. He’s a good kid and has great potential.”

  Al-Razi grinned. “Yeah, but we have nothing.”

  “Oh, but we do. One of the targets is dead, so half of our mission is complete. Javin will be here shortly, and we’ll see if he has anything.”

  “What have they found?”

  “Not sure. He didn’t say.”

  “How did he learn about the safehouse?” Al-Razi’s voice had turned firm and cold.

  “From one of his contacts.” Claudia replied in a similar tone.

  “Who?”

  “You’ll have to ask him.”

  “Do you know?”

  “I do, but I’m not at liberty—”

  “Cut this nonsense, would you? My men are lying there, dead, their bodies still warm, and you’re worried about protocol...”

  “We all have rules we must follow.”

  “Not when they get in the way of the truth and justice.”

  Claudia shrugged. “In a few minutes, you can talk to Javin, and he’ll tell you as much as he can.”