Sniper’s Debt (7even Series Book 2)

by Mainak Dhar

  I grabbed a rifle from the ground and we ran towards the entry point of the village where we had come in from.

  A man shouted out to us, and I screamed back that the bosses had asked that I get this hostage up to the base. He seemed to think it over, perhaps my speaking in English convincing him, but then he had second thoughts and shouted at us to stop just as we entered the path we had come through.

  He raised his rifle and shouted again, but he was cut off mid-sentence, as his head exploded in pink mist. Karzai proving once again that it had been a good idea to leave him to do the sniping.

  We careened up the path, without looking back once to see if anyone was following us and as we emerged into the clearing, I shouted out. ‘Run as fast as you can!’

  We would be in the open for about a hundred meters and while I can do many things well, I am no Usain Bolt. Every second it took to cover that distance was with my heart in my mouth, holding Zoya as close to me as possible, in the hope that anyone taking a shot at us would aim for the bigger target – me.

  I felt a couple of bullets pass close by and when I turned to see how far our pursuer was, I saw a man spin and fall as Karzai took him down with a single shot.

  Another man ran out the gate, but before he could even raise his rifle, Karzai had taken him out as well.

  When you’re in the kind of situation we found ourselves in, you pray to whichever God that will listen to help out, and if divine intervention isn’t forthcoming, then the next best thing is a sniper like Karzai watching your back.

  We got to the bottom of the hill, breathless, bruised and relieved to be alive. As we got to the top, Karzai was waiting. He smiled when he saw Zoya.

  I realised that while she had heard so much about him, she had never really seen him before. His smile disappeared when he heard her words, uttered among muffled sobs.

  ‘We need to get Aman. They have him.’

  I was on my knees, catching my breath, feeling my bruised neck and nose. I hadn’t forgotten Aman, not at all, but none of us would get out alive, if I thought just like an anguished father. The soldier in me told me to get at least Zoya out of harm’s way, so that I could focus on finding Aman.

  Sandberg was on the SEAL radio set.

  ‘Major, you got them out? That diversion you spoke of was pretty good. Don’t know how you pulled it off, but you did.’

  I could hear the disappointment in his voice when I told him that two of the hostages were still not free and had been moved to an unknown location.

  ‘Sir, they moved really fast when we started our attack.’

  Karzai nudged me and I looked up to where he was pointing.

  There was a small, black drone orbiting the hill we were on.

  ‘Looks like you’re not the only ones with drones up there, sir. They have one up as well, watching us. Looks like a small hand-launched one.’

  ‘Major, we have an extraction team heading your way to get the hostages. They’ll be there in five.’

  Sandberg had earlier mentioned fifty or more men in the village. We had taken out perhaps no more than ten, so if they regrouped and came for us, we were dead. There was no way Karzai and I could hold out against those kinds of odds.

  We literally counted down the seconds, waiting for the Americans to come.

  When I heard the sound of approaching rotors, I exhaled in relief.

  ‘Zoya, you get out of here and take Hanif with you. Aman and I will work on getting our son and Rachel back.’

  Zoya’s look of anguish was gone, replaced by a steely determination. ‘They took my son. I’m not going anywhere till I know he’s safe.’

  I would have tried convincing her to get to safety and why it wasn’t a good idea for her to be in the middle of what was effectively a combat zone, but I never got the time.

  As the American Black Hawk came into sight, a puff of smoke burst out from the base on the hill and a missile streaked out towards the chopper.

  The pilot swerved, trying to avoid the missile, but he was flying too low and it was way too late for any evasive maneuver. The missile hit the rear of the helicopter, exploding and snapping it in two.

  As the wreckage rained down just a few hundred meters from us, Sandberg was shouting on the radio.

  ‘What the hell happened there? We had no intel on them having SAMs!’

  I would have replied about just how poor American intelligence had been about what was happening, but I was struck speechless when I saw a solitary figure walk towards our hill. I looked at him through the binoculars and saw that it was Khalid.

  Khalid didn’t seem to be carrying any weapons and was waving a white cloth over his head.

  As he stopped at the foot of the hill, he shouted out to us. ‘Major Ghosh, come down and we can talk about making a bargain, which could save some lives, starting with your wife and son.’

  ***

  Khalid was still wearing the dress he had been in the plane, but then he had looked like he was in charge, the confident leader of his men.

  Now, he looked visibly harried. I knew that look well, for I had worn it at times as well. It was the : look of a man who had screwed up, and had been sent by his bosses to fix things.

  ‘I was right about you being a pain in the ass, major. I just underestimated how much trouble you could be.’

  I had heard that before, and I was in no mood for small talk.

  ‘Where is my son, you bastard, and why shouldn’t I just kill you right now?’

  He reached into his pocket, holding his left hand out, palm extended, to show that he meant no harm. He took out a smartphone and came closer.

  On the screen was a recording of Aman, sleeping on a bed, surrounded by blankets and pillows.

  ‘We don’t like waging war on babies, major. Not good for PR, as my bosses would say, and no matter what you think about me, I am not a man who would harm an innocent child. We would have kept him with him mother and we were in the process of moving both of them up to the base, where the other lady was being questioned. We got him up faster, as I carried him up myself, but before we could get his mother up there, you decided to show up. I’d say it all ended up well, because our having your son means we can have this chat and hopefully come to an arrangement.’

  He smiled, but got to the point when he saw that I had my pistol pointed at him still.

  ‘I don’t know why, but my bosses have a lot of interest in you. And now, they say that they have an interest in your companion as well.’

  ‘What companion?’

  ‘Come now, major. The sniper who’s with you. Don’t think we’re stupid. Our drone picked him up once the attacks began. We could come and get both of you, you know, but we also know that we would lose men unnecessarily. The men who have hired me have a lot of equipment at their disposal, as you have already seen. But anti-aircraft and anti-tank missiles won’t help us take out you and the sniper. We’d have to do that the old-fashioned way, and I’m realistic enough to say that you would do some serous damage to us. As it is, my bosses are fuming at the hits we’ve taken. Plus, you would lose your son and if my men have to fight their way up to take and hill and get you, don’t count on your wife not being collateral damage.’

  I knew where this was headed now.

  He had the good grace to shrug as he continued. ‘I was a soldier, and I had a son. I would much prefer to release your son and for us to meet in battle and let it end the way it has to, but I don’t call the shots. So, come along.’

  ‘My wife?’

  ‘She is of no real concern to us. We took your family only because we were instructed to get some insurance. My bosses thought, rightly so as it turned out, that you would need persuading. Come on, let’s not delay this.’

  I didn’t hold too many of the cards, but I wasn’t going to agree to everything he wanted without getting something back.

  ‘Talk to your bosses. I want them to allow a chopper to come in to evacuate my wife and the kid up there. Ask them to not be trigger ha
ppy and shoot it down. Second, I want my son to be sent down now. The Americans won’t try anything – we don’t mean anything to them. As long as you have your hostage, they will not attack you.’

  ‘You ask a lot for a man whose negotiating position is rather weak.’

  ‘I haven’t asked for the other woman, because I know she is why your bosses did all this. And, as you said, I hold few cards. This is just a request from one soldier to another. Your bosses may not understand that and I know we are all expendable to them, but I don’t want my son to die here for wars old men wage for their own purposes.’

  Khalid looked at me curiously. ‘And, you are willing to die here?’

  ‘When I became a professional soldier, I reconciled to knowing I could die any day. Dying for a flag, a nation, duty, the regiment, officer’s orders, bad luck, a politician’s desire to get votes, and most of all, for the brothers I served with. I can’t say I was ever happy with the prospect of dying for some of those reasons, least of all if it was because some fat idiot threw us in harm’s way for political gains, but I learned to be at peace with it. So, if I have to die here to save my family, I would gladly do so. It’s a better reason to die than many of the others I’ve mentioned.’

  ‘And, your sniper?’

  ‘Aman, come down now.’

  Within a few minutes, Karzai was there and I whispered what was happening to him. He looked at Khalid and smiled.

  ‘Get on with it, you bastard. If only one Aman lives today, I’m glad it will be the right one.’

  It took a few minutes, and I took that time to have a powwow with Sandberg and Gopal, bringing them up to speed on what was happening.

  When I finished telling them what I had in mind, I heard Sandberg exhale loudly.

  ‘Major, you are either suicidal or have balls of steel.’

  ‘Sir, I’m not suicidal and I’m as scared as the next guy. I think more appropriate adjectives would be desperate and perhaps stubborn. What other choice do we have? Do you guys have any better ideas?’

  His silence told me everything I needed to know.

  ‘Call me in a few minutes, major. Someone wants to talk to you.’

  When the man carrying Aman arrived, he was quiet but his eyes lit up when he saw me. I tried to be strong, but I felt tears come into my eyes. Tears of joy at seeing my son again, a son I had promised I would keep safe and had failed to. Tears of rage at the men who had put him in such danger.

  I took Aman and held him for what seemed to be an eternity.

  Khalid just stood there, not saying anything, not asking me to hurry up.

  I held Aman up, wanting him to remember his father the way I would want to be remembered.

  ‘Son, you will grow up to be an amazing man. Love your mother, take care of her – she is the most precious thing in our lives. Explore the world, stretch your limits, try new things, make mistakes, but remember that we are not defined what we see, do or say while we spend our time here. We are defined by the memories we leave behind. So, do everything your heart desires, but never forget that what matters ultimately is what you awaken in the hearts of others.’

  I kissed him on the forehead and handed him to Karzai. He looked at the little boy named after him and took off a locket he was wearing and put it around my son’s neck.

  ‘That was given to me by my mother. It has my name inscribed in it. Our name.’

  It’s funny, the things that give you courage.

  For me, it was the fact that Zoya did not shed a single tear. She held me close and whispered into my ears.

  ‘I know you. I know you. We’ll be waiting for you when you come back. We’ll never stop waiting.’

  Zoya, Aman in her lap, and Hanif walked to the waiting Black Hawk that was allowed to touch down and the US soldier at the door handed me a sat-phone.

  It was Dhar.

  ‘Forget official and unofficial channels. Looks like you’re in the deep end again. Good luck, son.’

  ‘That’s a funny thing to say to a condemned man.’

  He chuckled. ‘Oh, I spent a lifetime learning how to read people and you’re not the type to go silently, after melodramatic goodbyes. Condemned, is it? My foot. Happy hunting.’

  My next call was to Sandberg.

  To my shock, the man on the line, was the former US President. I had seen him on TV innumerable times, and heard his deep baritone. A man who had withdrawn graciously into civilian life after serving his term, one which saw him authorise many missions that took out top terrorists around the world. He had few friends in Afghanistan and Pakistan. His daughter, it seems, was a chip off the old block, vocal in her campaign against drugs, not shying away from highlighting how this part of the world was feeding an epidemic that was killing hundreds of thousands of innocents.

  ‘Major Ghosh, I wanted to thank you for your efforts and wish you luck.’

  ‘I’m sorry we couldn’t get Rachel, sir. She sounds like a remarkable young woman.’

  I could hear him laugh on the line. ‘That she is. That she is. I won’t ask you to promise me that you will get her out safely, since I know how these things go. You know as well as I that the United States will never negotiate with terrorists. But you may be the last person to speak to her. Please let her know how much I love and admire her. Would you do that, major?’

  I took a deep breath, my voice choking up involuntarily as I replied to a father who knew he may never see his baby again.

  ‘I’ll do that, sir. That I can promise.’

  As the helicopter lifted off, four armed men came up.

  As we began to walk towards them, Karzai nudged me in the ribs.

  ‘You seem very pleased for a man about to die.’

  ‘My friend, the non-combatants are off the board. Now it’s just us and these sons of bitches. Now, we get to play the game with the rules we know best.’

  ‘Yeah, about fifty of them and the two of us! Armed with nothing else but your misplaced sense of optimism and bad sense of humour.’

  I laughed out loud, causing the men in the truck to look at me and whisper among themselves.

  ‘Yeah, don’t you just feel sorry for them?’

  It’s good to show bravado in the face of danger. Kids nowadays would say you have swag. Well, I had no adoring kids looking at me in awe, and this was no movie where people would hoot and cheer at the screen for my witty one-liner.

  Karzai had been around long enough to know that we were in deep shit, and I had no illusions about our chances. But that’s where years of training with some of the hardest sons of bitches known to man came in handy. It didn’t make you invulnerable, it didn’t make you immune to pain, it didn’t mean you wouldn’t occasionally get your ass kicked. What it meant was that, despite it all, you were able to grit your teeth, and keep going. If they got your hands, you kicked; if they got your legs, you bit; if they got your teeth, you smashed them with your head. Whatever it took, till you stopped breathing, you would fight.

  That’s all I could do now and that’s what I would do.

  ***

  The climb up the steep, rock-strewn hillside would have been hard for anyone, even a soldier in the peak of his fitness.

  As I made my way up the winding path, with some dozen rifles pointed at me, I felt an uncanny feeling of kinship with the hundreds of US troops, who would have served here. I had been in godforsaken places on missions before, but had always known I would come back to my base, to home, at the end of it all. To spend months, even years, out here, in the middle of such inhospitable terrain, surrounded by enemies, was another thing.

  While planning what we could do to get into the abandoned base, I had done what research I could and asked enough questions of Sandberg and his staff to drive them crazy. The post was informally called Restrepo by the Americans who had served here, after a soldier of that name who had been killed early in their deployment. It had even been the subject of a much-acclaimed documentary. I wish I had had time to see it, to familiarise myself with the
layout.

  Almost fifty Americans had died here, for a piece of rock that nobody really cared about and which, when you got to it, had no real strategic value in the larger war on terror. Young men in the prime of their lives had died because someone, somewhere had decided to make a stand on a spot on a map, in a place where those planners and generals would never set foot, and never have to hold their friends’ heads in their laps as they bled to death. That was a soldier’s life, no matter which flag you served.

  Just above the ridge line was the spot where a SEAL team had been ambushed, and then the helicopter sent to rescue them had been shot down, leading to more than a dozen deaths, and the much-covered rescue of a lone survivor who had found sanctuary in a nearby village. That episode had been made into a big-budget Hollywood movie, one which I had actually seen.

  After four years of wasting lives, the Americans had finally abandoned the post in 2010, leaving what had long come to be known as the Valley of Death.

  I stopped, taking in a deep breath, seeing the heavily sandbagged structure just above us.

  ‘You tired, major?’

  I turned to look at Karzai and saw that despite his attempt at humour, he could also feel it. We had both been soldiers, had served alongside others whom we’d give our lives to protect, and known what it meant to shed blood for the poor choices of those who never had to put themselves into harm’s way.

  I felt a chill come over me, as if the ghosts of all those young men who had died here were passing through me. To a soldier, this was holy ground, as holy as any place of worship. I sent a silent prayer up for all those young men who had given their lives here, and in turn, asked for their help in ensuring that I succeed in the mission I had in what had once been their base and home.

  Khalid had been quiet throughout the climb. He was a cold-blooded killer, as he had shown on the plane, but he had hinted more than once that he had been a soldier once.

  I had known soldiers who had gone bad, for money or for glory, but once you had sworn to honour and respect a flag, whichever flag it was, some of that remained in you. I was not naive enough to believe he would help me, but when the chips are down, any leverage will do, and knowing a bit more about him might come in handy.