Murphy was once again caught off guard, completely surprised by Missy. He couldn’t help exclaiming. “Fuuuuuck!” That of course got a few laughs.
Carter asked, “How fast are you with a knife, McCrea?” He figured he’d joke around with her, now that everyone was laughing. He was seated with his back up against one of the trees surrounding their clearing. Suddenly, just over his head, there was a “thunk” sound.
“Faster than a speeding bullet, Sarge!” Missy giggled and then got up to retrieve her knife, still quivering inches above Carter’s head. No one had even seen her throw it. Yeah, she was fast. Hey, they knew she was special, right?
Of course, Murphy had to say it again. “Fuuuuuck!”
Grimes said, “Please don’t ask her to demonstrate how she disarms people.”
-----
July 23, 2019
It was late in the day Tuesday but Missy and her two companions were finally starting their search though the sector. Just the logistics of clearing out from their old camp and getting down into this area had taken them a full day. They’d brought all of their gear, most of which had needed to be hidden away. But, they could now cover enough of the area before dark so finishing the task by end of the next day was a reasonable goal. Having some margin for accomplishing each part of their mission was important. They needed to be ready and in position for Thursday morning.
Missy really looked like a Pashtun local, provided she didn’t smile at anyone. Being with these two guys, ambling along the first of the three routes they needed to clear, she felt confident about their plan. Town could mumble an adequate greeting, if needed. She was quite sure she’d be able to scent any Taliban soldier who might come along. She’d been close enough now to enough of them to notice several distinct differences from how they smelled to how Pashtun locals smelled. And, if there was any doubt? They’d ere on the side of caution. Detaining a few locals by mistake wouldn’t be that big a deal.
An hour later, two Taliban soldiers approached them as they walked along the open road. The soldiers were both carrying rifles but did not have them ready for use. They clearly did not suspect they were facing three American soldiers. Missy waited until Town suddenly made a move on one and she then quickly spun and hit the other man. She had learned how to strike very effectively, hitting the carotid artery with her knuckles and knocking a man unconscious. Her man slumped silently to the ground even before Town had finished subduing his man. Heimbold watched, ready to help if needed.
A minute later, Murphy and Carter appeared. They took over so Missy and her companions could once again continue ambling along. Two Taliban prisoners, their first of hopefully many more to come. Yeah … their surveillance mission was definitely over.
Chapter Thirty-Three
July 24, 2019
The Secretary of Defense said, “In less than twenty-four hours, we’ll know whether or not our strategy has succeeded. Either way, the U.S. won’t be forced into any war. If Afghanistan falls, and Pakistan falls right after it, we’ll merely pull all our troops out. There will be a Mid-East Conference, of course, which our President will attend. But, we’ll have provided all the support possible within the many constraints we have.” This was the last CAW review session and all the usual people were once again gathered together, meeting in secret.
Winword said, “Hopefully, this will result in a huge setback for the Taliban and we won’t need to pull out. At least there haven’t been any major security leaks in the five days since we’ve shared things with the Afghan military. At this point, word is our CAW teams will have the Korengal Valley area secure enough where the helicopters are coming in. Once the Afghan forces are safely on the ground, they should be able to control things well enough for a day or two. That should be all that’s needed to destroy the base.”
“Then, an orderly retreat out of the valley and back to Asadabad … eventually back to Kabul, with a few hundred Taliban prisoners … that’s what we hope will stop the takeover of more cities and prevent the overthrow of the government.” General Blake knew that scenario was what had convinced the Afghan President to approve their plan. “We can support all that with just the Army helicopters we have over there, without needing any airstrikes by our fighter jets and bombers. This whole thing will be seen as an Afghan victory with only a little bit of support from the residual U.S. Forces we’ve kept there since our big withdrawal in 2014.”
“So, if the Afghans win, we win. But, if they lose, we’re not responsible or to blame, so we don’t lose. We can come back again another day.” Hanson was satisfied. This was how the Secretary of State wanted it to play. A win-win for the U.S., either way. That is, as long as U.S. casualties were minimal. “When will we know that all our CAW teams have managed to get out okay?”
General Blake said, “If all goes well, they should be out in just a day or two after the base is destroyed. Some of our teams will retreat right along with the Afghans, of course. Then, we have extraction LZ’s where we’ll be picking up the other teams.”
-----
Team Twenty-Two had cleared their sector and had delivered twenty-one prisoners to the POW camp being run by Team Twelve. Captain Grimes knew an additional thirty-two men had been captured in the two other sectors on their side of the valley and there were eighteen men being held in the other POW camp. That side of the valley didn’t have as much Taliban activity and only had two sectors.
The valley was now secure. Radio silence was no longer necessary and Sergeant Williams had been checking with the other CAW teams off and on all during the day. So far, so good.
There wouldn’t be any more traffic coming into the northern part of the valley since the road all the way from Asadabad to Chapa Dara following along the Pech River was now controlled by CAW teams that had been brought in the day before. Any traffic coming up from the southern part of the valley would now be stopped at the various blockades that had been established.
So far, there had only been minimal gunfire throughout the valley, and none involving Team Twenty-Two. The largest group of captives at any one time had been the group of eight Taliban soldiers his team had subdued that morning. When Town, Heimbold and McCrea had signaled that these eight men needed to be taken down, four men from his team had suddenly appeared with weapons drawn, demanding the soldiers put down their weapons. There had almost been shots fired when one of them managed to bring his rifle up. But, before he could shoot, McCrea had thrown one of her knives which got him in the shoulder. Everyone then surrendered after that.
All the others had been taken, mostly in groups of two or three. There had been only two vehicles passing through with Taliban soldiers and these had been easily stopped with the men disarmed and captured, no problem. McCrea had stepped out into the road and had waved the vehicles down. Seeing her, they’d never anticipated being attacked until it was too late.
Each member of his team was now wearing the team’s commo gear -- an earpiece and microphone -- which they’d be using from now on. Communications among the team members were critical, now that they were taking direct action. This was what they all had trained for, rather than surveillance. Grimes was pleased with how well McCrea seemed to be fitting right in with the team.
They had set explosives at all three blockade points but were not planning to set these off until needed. He was at one position with Williams and Harold, Hernandez was at the next position with Murphy and Heimbold, while Town was at the third position with Carter and McCrea.
Just as he was starting to think this was all going way too well, his luck ran out. He heard the radio being held by Williams bark with his call sign. “Cobalt corsage two two, this is cobalt corsage one niner, over!” Team Nineteen was calling.
Williams handed him the mike, which he keyed and answered, “One niner, this is two two, over.”
“Two two, there are three suspect personnel with weapons … one is maybe carrying an RPG … they are now in your sector, over.”
“One niner, understand …
three personnel with weapons are now in my sector. Okay, two two will take care of this, over.” Since Team Nineteen’s sector was to his south, that gave him a fairly good idea where these three Taliban soldiers had to be. And, per the prearranged CAW team protocols, since these Taliban were now in his sector, they were his responsibility. Somehow, Team Nineteen had missed them. Well, shit happens.
He notified his team on their commo gear, alerting them of the situation. Town’s position was closest to the southern boundary with Nineteen’s sector. But, it would be dark in a half hour. He wasn’t very optimistic about anyone finding these guys.
Ten minutes later, however, McCrea announced, “I can see them, Captain. Three men, about twelve hundred meters from our position … they’re on the other side of a large gulley between us and them.”
Grimes knew the terrain was all rocky mountainside over there with several big gulleys. There wouldn’t be any quick way to get close to these Taliban soldiers and soon it would be too dark. This would probably have to wait until morning …
McCrea said, “I think I can get them with my M24 … they’re out in the open right now. I can get set up in about five minutes.”
He knew she had brought along a sniper rifle and scope but … seriously? They were more than a thousand meters away. Well, she was a supernatural werecat witch. Who knew what she could do? “McCrea, if you think you have a shot, go ahead and take it.”
“Okay, Sir!”
Several minutes later, he heard a rifle shot. That was followed almost immediately by a second shot. Then, a third.
Carter announced, “Damn! I think she did it! Sheeezzz!”
Grimes asked, “McCrea? Any luck?”
“Yes, Sir! Three down. They’re not moving. Do you want me to go retrieve their weapons? That will probably take me an hour or so to get over there but, that way, we’ll know for sure those weapons won’t be getting used against us.”
He gave that a moment’s thought. For anyone else, going over there in the dark? She’d have to climb way up and then way down, to get around the gulley. But, she could see in the dark, right? “Okay, McCrea, but only if you’re sure you want to do this. I’ll let you decide …”
“On my way, Sir!”
Three and a half hours later, he got the call. She was back. With three rifles, two pistols and one rocket propelled grenade launcher. And all the ammo, of course. And … yeah … those three enemy soldiers could now be confirmed as dead.
-----
July 25, 2019
Missy had been dozing, but with all her enhanced senses kept on full alert. Now, she was fully awake. It was “oh-dark-thirty” and she had just heard the helicopters coming. This was it. She announced it to her team, “Choppers enroute … any minute now.” After another minute, the others were also able to hear the whop-whop-whop sound of multiple aircraft approaching.
Then, high overhead, clearing the distant ridge and entering the valley, first one helicopter and then another and then all the rest. U.S. Army Black Hawks carrying troops and U.S. Army Apache gunships armed with machine guns, missiles and rockets. There were also various other transport helicopters also carrying troops. The Afghan military combat assault force had arrived.
Soon the transport helos made their descent to the valley area below and after each touched down, soldiers rapidly deployed from both sides of the aircraft. Moments later, these helicopters lifted up and climbed back out, leaving squad after squad behind. Each squad quickly moved into a defensive posture and, once a complete unit was safely on the ground, the unit formed up and moved off to its designated position.
Whether there had been a last minute security leak or the Taliban had merely received word when all these aircraft had departed the airfield at Kabul, the surrounding hills soon began filling with approaching Taliban soldiers. From the direction of the base, heavy gunfire could be heard as the CAW teams began shooting at those Taliban soldiers attempting to either come out or escape. With all the firepower these teams had brought with them, there was no chance of any Taliban forces getting outside of that base. They were trapped and unless reinforcements could get there, they were going to remain trapped.
Missy and the rest of Team Twenty-Two stayed focused on their sector and, when Grimes gave the word, they set off the explosives at all three barricade positions. Further away, they heard more explosions going off as other CAW teams did likewise. Now, they merely had to hold these positions until Afghan units could climb up from the valley to replace them. Once relieved, Team Twenty-Two could finally head on up to the main entrance of the Taliban base to deal with clearing that out, their prime mission.
The Afghan units were indeed facing a challenge. There were hundreds of Taliban soldiers who were now moving towards them, hoping to drive them back and come to the rescue of those caught trapped inside the base. But, as wave after wave of helicopters continued to land, bringing more and more Afghan units in, that challenge began to look very manageable. The CAW teams had done their job well, clearing the area and establishing security for initial positions. Thus, in just a few hours, the Afghans were able to move into place at all the key defensive locations all around the base and the valley below.
The Afghans soon owned the valley and the road going north all the way back to the Pech River, where it met the main rode at Kandagal, fifteen miles west of Asadabad. Likewise, they also owned that fifteen mile section of main road. At least, they owned it temporarily, thanks to the CAW teams that had arrived two days earlier. The large convoy of vehicles from Asadabad was now on its way, and would hopefully arrive that afternoon. Once these reinforcements were there, continuing to hold off all the Taliban forces would be assured.
However, while it looked like the Taliban forces moving up from the south could now be stopped and held off, there were a lot of Taliban forces in the north and that convoy might get bogged down. Already, there were reports that two of the CAW teams had been forced to fall back. In response, the helicopter gunships were now supporting the convoy rather than any of the activities in the valley and around the base.
Team Twenty-Two held its sector easily. Whenever any Taliban soldiers attempted to climb over or around the barricades the team had created, they found themselves quickly pinned down by rifle and machine gun fire. No one was successful in getting through and, by noontime, there were several bodies lying on the ground out there. Because of the excellent fields of fire for each team member, the Taliban really had no chance against them.
Missy was no longer sure how many men she may have killed. Twice she had seen large waves of soldiers suddenly coming at them. Each time, she and Town had fired their rifles at one man after another while Carter had fired at them with his machine gun. The Taliban had all been quickly mowed down, sending a very clear message: any further attempts would surely be suicide.
This was equally true at the other two barricades. And then, just before one o’clock that afternoon, their Afghan relief unit came up. A full company of eighty-six men, all bright eyed and eager to participate. This sector would remain safe and secure; there would be no infiltration now. Team Twenty-Two pulled back, gathered up all their gear and checked in at the TOC, the tactical operations center.
This TOC had been established earlier that morning and was now running smoothly, with an Afghan general in charge and a Special Forces advisor, Lieutenant Colonel Magwood, coordinating all the CAW team activities. Grimes checked in with Magwood and learned that everything in the immediate area, surrounding the Taliban base, was all going just great but the same was not true for the convoy coming from Asadabad. The Taliban had managed to push back and then dig in at Kandagal and there definitely would be no arrival of Afghan reinforcements any time soon.
The battle at Kandagal was now looking to be even more important than destroying the base, since otherwise all the Afghans in the valley would be cut off. They needed those vehicles to get through so they could link up with them. Only then would the Afghan forces all manage an eventual retr
eat out of this valley in an orderly fashion, with a clear victory. Otherwise, there was risk the Taliban might surround them, cutting them off from retreat and also preventing any extraction by helicopters. They’d be decimated, falling in defeat. Even if the Taliban base was destroyed, there would no longer be the big Afghan victory needed to prevent the overthrow of the country.
Chapter Thirty-Four
July 25, 2019
The Taliban base was now essentially a prison, with CAW teams and Afghan units completely surrounding it. There were about three hundred inside but none had yet agreed to surrender. Meanwhile, outside all the entryways, there were several bodies of soldiers who had tried to break out. Those inside were still in communication with the Taliban units now rushing to their rescue. No doubt, they were hoping all they needed to do was wait a couple of days and they’d be saved.
However, they would not be allowed to wait any longer. Team Twenty-Two led by Captain Grimes, Team Nineteen led by Captain Godfrey and a Seal team led by Commander Scott, who was senior in rank and therefore in charge of this unique assignment, were now ready. They were going into the base to force everyone in there to give themselves up. The only alternative would be death. Once cleared of all personnel, the base would get completely destroyed.
This had really been the ultimate mission for Campaign Angel’s Wing, going back to the very beginning, when the base had first been discovered. Starting from when “P” Branch had issued its report, based on Missy’s recon, events had inexorably led to this final step.
Missy's First Mission Page 33
