SAS Para-Ops: MEGA SET - SAS Para-Ops Books #1, #2, #3, #4, #5 & #6

by Casey Christie

  “Lee, Sitrep” said Captain Taylor.

  “Looks good, Boss. Only two heat signatures within the toilet block and I’m registering just the one weapon ident which will be that of Jones’s concealed MP5.”

  “Roger that.”

  Five minutes later and a worried looking Jones appeared and began his circuitous route back to his commander and colleagues.

  “That’s strange, the Rat is still in there?” said White.

  “Well, whatever the reason we shall find out soon enough.”

  Some minutes later and Jones arrived and stealthily made his way up to his Captain, Sergeant White moving over so that Jones could talk to his commander with ease.

  “He says he needs to speak to you, boss.”

  “What, nonsense!” cut in White.

  “Why?” replied the Captain while giving his 2IC a look of disapproval for butting in.

  “He says he has information of collusion with the Turkish army and ISIS and evidence of a mass grave located near this refugee camp. He says that the small numbers of people only visible is not because the majority of individuals are in the tents. It’s too damn hot to be inside.”

  “So why does he need to see the Boss?” White once again cut in.

  “Because, White. If this is true it will be a game changer. It will have a massive political effect on the region and we would have to scrap our current mission and gather evidence and get it to command as an overriding priority. If true, this is the kind of information that starts wars between countries, not just crazy groups of extremists. What is your feeling on the matter, Jones, you were with the man, does he seem genuine?”

  “It’s hard to read a man when you are talking between a hole in the wall but I’ll tell you this, he is genuinely very nervous, something has got him spooked.”

  “Knowing information like that would scare anyone, where does he want me to meet him?” said Taylor.

  “He said he would wait in there for another fifteen minutes and then walk into the camp – he wants us to follow his route and then for you to go in after him.

  The men started a heated debate on the absurdity of their commander going in to an unknown camp based solely on the word of a Rat.

  “You’re not actually considering going in, are you, Captain?” said Lee.

  The Captain pinched his nose with his forefinger and thumb seemingly deep in thought.

  “No, of course not, but we have to do something.. White get back…”

  “There, he’s left the cubicle and is going back in to the camp” said Andrews.

  Andrews was trying so hard to be useful that he had no idea he had just interrupted his friend, and more importantly in this case his commander, from giving an order.

  “Thank you, Mark. Well spotted. Lee, keep your eye on him and mark his route and final destination. Now Jones get back on the net and let command know that we may have new vital Int and set up a direct line for me to speak to the highest ranking officer there. And don’t be anymore specific than that, yet.”

  “Roger, Boss.”

  An uncertain silence befell the Kill Team and the mission objective seemed to be more and more unattainable.

  Moments passed and Andrews saw Captain Taylor pull himself that much closer to the cusp of the hill and extend his neck and shoulders just a few inches further in order to get a better look at the camp below him while asking his sniper to point out the exact location of where the informant had walked to but before he could finish speaking the back of his head exploded.

  “Mark, Mark, are you there, buddy?” said Lee while trying to shake lucid his spotter who was now staring blankly into thin air.

  Andrews came to and barely registered through his peripheral vision his friend inching forward to get a better look at the camp below.

  “Lee, tell me exactly…”

  But before he could finish his sentence Mark lashed out with his left hand, swinging it backwards, striking Taylor in the nose sending him rearing back and then to the ground as he fell face first into the dirt.

  A millisecond later and the unmistakable zing of a round passing extremely close to their heads could be heard followed by a much louder bang coming from further away signalling the inexact origin of the bullet that had nearly killed Captain Taylor.

  “Sniper!” shouted White. All the men quickly hunkered down just that bit more to make sure they were out of sight and out of the line of fire. All except Lee who kept his position and eyes on the camp, confident in the camouflage capabilities of his ghillie and his expert positioning.

  Captain Taylor looked up at Andrews and with his bloodied nose nodded his appreciation for still being alive.

  “Good to have you back online!” said the Captain with a wicked grin. “Lee, Sitrep! Do you have eyes on this sniper?”

  “Nothing, Boss. I, I was looking at Mark, he... I thought he had a fit or something.”

  Just as Andrews felt he had redeemed himself by saving his commander’s life a sense of guilt washed over him as he now felt responsible for distracting the very man he was supposed to be assisting.

  “My fault, Lee. It should have been more clearly explained to you that that was a possibility – it’s part of his gift. From this point on don’t take notice of Mark zoning out, lesson learnt and remembered. Moving forward what can you see?”

  “It’s quiet and it’s eerie, none of the refugees seem to have reacted to the shot.”

  Just then a woman clutching a baby in her arms emerged from one of the tents and ran across the camp towards the exit and main gate while wailing uncontrollably. But before she could get out of the camp two black clad ISIS fighters stepped out of the apparent guard hut and gunned her down in cold blood with their AK47s. At this barbaric killing the camp exploded into activity with men, women and little children bursting from camps and screaming. More and more ISIS fighters started to emerge, brandishing an array of weaponry.

  “Permission to engage, Captain” said White and West in unison.

  ‘Negative -- there are far too many civilians down there, permission denied. Lee, what is happening?! Damn it!”

  Lee found his sight and engaged the enemy who had just slaughtered a mother and child. A bullet to the chest of the first and then a swift adjustment to his aiming and a second 50 calibre round tore off the arm of the other of the pair.

  “Permission to engage, Boss” said Lee after he had engaged the enemy.

  As the Captain was about to retort and Lee was about to start engaging more fighters as he saw them, Andrews called out “Get down” and simultaneously physically dragged his sniper out of sight while moving down himself.

  A nanosecond later and another zing announced a second sniper round flying though the air where Sniper Henry Lee’s head had been only a heartbeat ago.

  Now all the men lay safely behind the cusp of the hill.

  “How did you know, another vision?” asked Lee.

  Mark just shook his head: “No, I saw a glint and from the training I have received I recognised it as being from a sniper’s scope.” His shrugged his shoulders: “I just thought it better to be safe than sorry.”

  “And thank God you did, dear boy!” said Lee with a mad grin. “But that doesn’t make sense – the sniper is good enough to ping me within seconds but is amateurish enough not to guard against his scope catching light and giving his position away? Doesn’t add up.”

  “We’ll debate the point later, Lee. You stay here and we’ll draw the fuckers out of the camp with the quads. Hopefully they will come after us so that we can engage them without fear of any civilian casualties. You just focus on that bloody sniper who will hopefully think we have all left this hillside and provide us with over-watch if and when you kill the bastard. We’ll RV at location one in 90 minutes if we lose comms or sight of each other.”

  “Roger that, boss.”

  “Look after yourselves you two” said the Captain while once again nodding his thanks to Mark. “The rest of you with me, let’s d
raw these baby killing bastards out from the eastern edge of the camp out of the line of sight of that damned sniper!”

  *****

  Within minutes the four SAS troopers were on their quads and pulling away from the hill at breakneck speed, with all the men revving their engines louder than required to draw the attention of their pursuers who they could hear were now leaving the camp in open backed technical vehicles with the signature anti-aircraft gun mounted on the back.

  “Mark, on the count of three I want us to move down and to the right approximately ten metres, then we will take position again on the cusp of the hill as it begins to descend to the right – that should put enough space between us and our original position which is surely compromised. Even if the foot soldiers are distracted by the quads I know that bloody sniper is going to keep his scope fixed on this hill top, it’s what I would do.” said Lee.

  Sixty seconds later and the sniper element was almost in position, Lee had halted them for one last communication.

  “Okay, Mark, our first priority is to get a snap shot of intelligence of the scene below us – that’s three seconds and no more. Take in everything you see. Three, Two, One. Go!”

  Mark Andrews nearly shat himself at the prospect of simply popping his face over a small hill for fear of it being blown off by this sniper who had just moments before nearly killed two of his closest friends, no, -- brothers.

  Two seconds later and Mark was back behind cover, a second later and Sniper Lee was next to him.

  “Three seconds, mate. Not two, you need that extra second to properly see” said Lee.

  Andrews was about to reply when Lee held up a hand to silence him while keying his mike on his sleeve to activate his radio.

  “Sunray, come in for Sierra Lima, over.”

  “Send for Sunray, over.”

  “Boss, you have two technicals after you, five Tangos in each. I’m going to engage and disable the one but you’ll have to deal with the remaining one, over.” said Lee.

  “Roger that, and don’t worry about us too much, we have a surprise in store for the bastards. Over” said Captain Taylor.

  “Can they take on that weapon on the quads, it’s massive” asked Andrews.

  “Negative, it’ll cut them to shreds if they let them get in range with the correct line of sight, but as the Boss said don’t worry about them, they have a surprise waiting” replied Lee while pointing up: “Now, this time I want our heads exposed for no longer than six seconds, I’m going for the engine block of the lead vehicle which should be lining up nicely for me in the next ten seconds or so. I don’t want you looking anywhere other than the camp, look between our one and three o’clock. My shot should attract the attention of that sniper, I need you to ping his position. On the count of three, go!”

  Sniper Lee slid out over the cusp and quickly found his target, the lead technical, moving at approximately 60 miles per hour bumping up and down the rough terrain. The anti-aircraft gun unable to fire because of the uneven ground, the weapon’s trigger man barely holding on as were his two colleagues sitting on either side.

  Lee slowed his breath, made adjustments to his scope for wind and distance and then slowly, thoughtfully, and with an eccentric amount of pleasure squeezed his trigger. A second later and the vehicle’s engine burst into flames, the massive 50 caliber round causing the engine to seize and the front wheels to lock, the pick-up truck flipped over itself, sending the occupants on the back flying through the air and the front passengers, neither wearing seat belts, through the windscreen before being crushed by the vehicle’s full weight upon them as it rolled over and over again, smashing into the flailing bodies of the Islamic State men, each in turn.

  The shadow’s heart starts to beat normally once more and he lets out a long controlled breath of air and then whispers the shadow’s prayer:

  “As my breath leaves my body so do your spirits leave yours, go well my friends on to your next journey. May God have mercy on your souls, and mine.”

  Then “Five Islamic State bastards with one round.. a new..”

  Before Sniper Lee could finish his sentence a bullet struck his own sniper rifle sending it flying from his hands and down the hill, the scope of his rifle smashing into his eye socket before flying clear and the shock of the impact racing up both Lee’s arms and down his spine.

  Both men were now back behind the cover of the hill lying on their backs.

  “Fuck me! Fuck Me, FUCK ME!” Lee kept repeating to himself.

  Mark looked at his sniper uncomprehendingly before speaking. “Fuck me what, Henry?”

  A bruise now beginning to form on the sniper’s eye.

  “Fuck me that was a beautiful shot, you’ve got to love those bloody Israelis and their engine killing rifles, and FUCK ME, whoever that sniper is down there, he is bloody brilliant!” said Sniper Henry Lee who then started to laugh out loud like a man possessed, despite his injuries, while shaking his head at the speed at which he had been pinged by his counterpart.

  And then suddenly without warning Henry Lee was silent and serious again and then back on comms.

  “Sunray, Sierra Lima, over.”

  “Send, Sierra Lima, send.”

  The noise of the quad’s engines and small arms fire could be heard in the distance and over the radio.

  “I’ve taken out one of the technicals, the remaining one is all yours. Over.”

  “Roger that, we’re just moving the gullible bastards into position, if you take my meaning, over.”

  “Haha, indeed I do sir, indeed I do! Over.” replied Lee.

  “What does he mean, Henry?” said Andrews.

  Once again all the sniper would do was point up and grin maniacally.

  “Now, time for us to deal with this Ghost!”

  “You sure, it’s him?”

  “Positive, I’ve never known, or even heard of, a sniper with this man’s ability to acquire and accurately engage his target so damn quickly. It has to be him. Finding your target quickly is one thing Mark but then to be able to send a round with accuracy there, within 6 seconds is astonishing.”

  Mark scratched his head. “But you did just that and he missed! Though that now leads me to my next question..”

  “I have another rifle in the back of our bike. Did you ping his position?”

  “I think I did but the strange thing is I could have sworn I saw two muzzle flashes coming from opposite ends of the camp.”

  Lee didn’t immediately answer but nodded his headed as if confirming something to himself.

  “So I did hear two shots go off, almost simultaneously, and only one zinger – the other shot must have been far off, but definitely two shots. So, we’re up against two snipers not just the one. That complicates things a little. Anyway we need to move – lets get on the bike and get to that peak on the eastern edge of the camp – it’ll provide us with one last shot, let’s move.”

  *****

  Aarzam and his grandson were hidden and prone in a firing position within the shadows of one of the larger tents located at the centre of the large camp, each lying on a large double mattress on the floor, the sniper rifle on a make shift manoeuverable bipod for stability. The slightly open flaps of the tent on each side gave them an almost 360 degree firing option.

  The old warlord shook his head irritably. “You’ve missed three times now, Ali.”

  “I got him with the last shot, his rifle, at least he doesn’t have a weapon now.”

  “He’ll have a back up weapon and I’m sure his spotter registered the muzzle flash of both shots.”

  Aarzam muttered something to himself before seemingly coming to a decision.

  “Give me the rifle, Ali. We’ll have one more shot at this soldier.”

  “But, grandfather, I can get him, I know I can.”

  “Do not argue with me, boy, give me that!”

  Ali reluctantly gave his grandfather the weapon.

  “He’ll be changing his position now and he’ll have two c
hoices – to either move to the western hill or take position on the eastern ridge. If he’s identified the presence of two snipers, which I have no doubt that he has, and has located both of our positions which I am sure the spotter has, then he’ll take the position to the west. He will still be able to hit us from the east but it’s considerably further away and a much harder proposition. I’ll watch that hill to the west, I want you to keep a look out on the east. If he slips into position without us seeing him then he’ll have one shot, either on us or Ahmed, then we’ll have one shot after he gives his position away, and if we miss, then we’ll have no choice but to pull back. After seeing what he did to that vehicle I don’t want to have to engage this sniper if we don’t have to. Ali, this is it.”