by Jim Wilson
He pointed out a large hut. “We believe it belongs to the war lord, Ishak.”
He moved his attention to downtown Dhuudo. This is Mullah Ovahy Ahmed’s mosque. It is about five miles from the village of the Majerteen tribe. The real students go home for the weekend, but the martyr students, teachers, and clerics actually live in the mosque complex.”
A complete diagram of the mosque appeared on a large screen. “There are four levels below the ground. The next to the lowest level appears to be an arms factory. Penetrating radar shows two half a mile long tunnels. They offer escape from the deeper sections of the mosque.”
“We have another target in Douala, Cameroon, Africa, where they assembled bombs in a warehouse. We believe that the bomb making operation is still taking place. Mullah Torka Quanah runs the Douala mosque. The Mercedes dealer that delivered the cars, but we believe only a commercial link ties the dealer to the bombers. Douala is going to wait for a few days. Your job for now is Dhuudo, Somalia.”
The Captain then took over the presentation and worked his men. “We need to break some eggs here. What do Seals do?”
They knew these question and they knew the answers.
The Seals all stood and answered, “Win.”
“How do we win?”
“We don’t fight fair.”
“Who wins a fair fight?”
“The bad guys do.”
“What do Seals do?”
“Win.”
“Who’s coming back?”
“All of us.”
Then he gave them the plan that would make SOD Cleveland happy.
“In four days, there would be a new moon and a cloudy sky over Dhuudo, Somalia. You will dress in black ninja suits. In addition to your normal pack, you will carry a special carbon fiber, silenced short barrel, fifty-caliber machine gun with five fifty round clips, a silenced Smith and Wesson nine millimeter automatic with a ten round clip, night vision glasses, and a long fighting knife. The fifty-caliber rounds will go through three or four huts including the people and things in them. You will fight in black face, short afro wigs, and without helmets.”
They repeatedly went over the attack plans for the village and the mosque. An Air Force C5 flew them from San Diego to a secret landing strip on a small island off the west coast of Africa. Six large helicopter gunships met them and they flew to a carrier two hundred miles from Dhuudo, Somalia. All but two Seals rested in their bunks for the Saturday night attack. Late Friday night, as the carrier sailed towards the Somalia coast, a super quiet helicopter transported a two Seal recon team to within two miles of the village. They walked and crawled to within two hundred yards of the huts, and for twenty hours watched the village. Their radio warning could have ended the mission.
Saturday, at 2300 hours Dhuudo time, the Seals formed on the flight deck of the carrier. It was a moonless night and all of the carrier’s lights were off. In front of them were black MH-60S Knighthawk helicopters. The combined sound of their duel rotors and the darkness of the night marked the real beginning of the mission. Teams of Seals filled several crafts, and one at a time, they lifted off.
Bill and the Captain’s group climbed aboard the last helicopter, and Bill fought to control his heart rate and breathing as the large black double router craft lifted from the deck. It was joy and not fear that made his heart race. He sat across from the Captain, and in the faintest of light saw his white teeth locked in a broad smile. Bill thought. This is what I was born to do.
They landed five miles downwind from the village. The sound only carry a mile, but the Captain knew that a long walk would give the new Seals time to prepare their minds for the task ahead. Eighty Seals put on their night vision glasses, poured from the helicopters, formed in squads of ten, and headed for the huts. Bill and the Captain group had a special assignment. They would use a tool to capture Ishak Ahmed alive. Then they would join the other Seals, form a line and put hundreds of fifty caliber rounds into each hut, and the mosque would be next.
As they passed the two forward observers, the Captain stopped and they exchanged briefings. There were no changes to the mission, the forwards joined the Captain’s squad, and the twelve of them headed for the largest hut.
A long line formed half way around the group of huts. Each man stood with his machine gun pointed forward with the safety in the off position, about twenty feet from a mud and hay building. When signaled, they retracted the bolt and fed a shell into the firing chamber. Their standing order was not to shoot any fellow Seals. The squads held their position as Bill and the Captain approached the hut containing Ishak Ahmed and his sons. It was 0100 hours local time.
Two Seals carried a special instrument and a powerful battery. A third Seal had the viewing screen. They assembled the UD 4 Microwave Viewer. They heard a slight hum as the software loaded and the instrument came to life. The UD 4 could see through the walls of the hut. It used microwaves tuned to reflect the cells of living tissue. The color image was as good as TV. As the Captain moved the lens, he saw five men sleeping. He could also see an AK47 at the end of each of their beds. A face recognition program compared the images to a CIA photo of Ishak Ahmed, and it locked on a sleeper in the largest room.
The door to the largest hut was made of leather suspended by a row of knots at the top of the door. Two Seals carefully held the door as a third use his long knife to sever the knots that held it in place. Bill followed by the Captain and four Seals entered the hut. The scene was just as they had viewed on the UD 4 and was surprisingly modern. The main room had a table and chairs and a large television. A small kitchen was against the far wall, and there was an open doorway to a small bathroom. To the right was another room without a door. Controlling his breathing, Bill stepped through the opening. With his night vision glasses, he saw four men sleeping, four small beds and their AK47s.
The Captain and a Seal quietly entered the room to the left and saw what they knew was Ishak Ahmed. He gave the hand signal for three more Seals to follow. When they heard the signal, together they held and then duct taped Ahmed’s arms and legs. The Captain complete the job by placing a band of duct tape onto his mouth, covered his head with a black cloth bag, and four Seals slipped him into a body bag. They heard the signal, four quiet reports from Bill’s pistol. A large Seal lifted the bag over his shoulder. They heard four more shots from the other room. The six men left the hut, placed Ishak Ahmed next to the UD 4, and joined the line as planned.
Using a secure radio the Captain gave the order. The eighty silenced fifty-caliber machine guns gave off loud clicks. Each Seal emptied a clip into the huts ahead, and the line made an orderly advance to the next set of huts. They held their fire until the line was straight and the Captain received a radio signal from the other end of the line. It took forty-five seconds and the Seals knew the men in the back huts were getting their pants on and their guns to return fire. The Captain gave the signal and again they fired until their clips were empty. They advanced two more times and stopped firing. After firing over seventeen thousand rounds into the seventy-five huts, they listened for sounds of life and heard none.
A Seal approached each hut and tossed a fire grenade onto the roof and thirty seconds later, they burst into flames. There was no long walk out. Their helicopters had lifted and flown the five miles to the edge of the fire. The Seals counted off, packed up their equipment, including the taped, hooded, and bagged Ishak Ahmed, and entered for their ride to the next stop. It was 0200 hours local time.
NASA replaced the old JN27 satellite long ago. There was only a little more visible light than twenty-two years earlier. A few lights came from Dhuudo about five miles away. No zoom was required and as the seventy-five fires gained intensity, the satellite locked on for thirty minutes. There was no life observed and the automatic analysis program marked it as local warfare. It took ten photos, marked them top-secret, and placed the report in a special folder for SOD Cleveland.
*****
The mosque was on a wide unpave
d street at the edge of town. Behind the mosque was open land populated by a few livestock. An unpaved street was facing the main entrance to the mosque where there was a large central covered area with a dirt floor. Towards the back was an ornate dome and worship area. At the very back of the first level was a small dormitory for the martyrs. Below the first floor were the private quarters for the mullah and his clerics. The next level had classrooms and areas for storage. Down another level was a weapons factory, and the lowest level was for storage of food and completed weapons awaiting sale.
At the right and left ends of the lowest level were tunnels about six feet high that offered secret escape paths. The ends of the tunnels had thick doors hidden deep into natural caves. There was a new moon and a cloudy sky. Helicopters landed near each of the caves that held the underground entrances to the mosque. Seals entered the caves and the helicopters joined the others in the field about a mile behind the mosque.
After a careful review for security devices, half the Seals entered through the tunnels and the rest entered through the back of the mosque. Ground piercing satellite radar had carefully analyzed the structure for weakness. Each Seal carried four two and a half pound bars of C-4. As they traveled through the tunnels and inside the main building, they placed explosives along the way. They put the bars into position and the Seals pulled a small yellow tab that activated their delayed detonation. A flashing red LED let them know that it was armed and ready.
They designed the C-4 bars to explode on command by radio signal, but additionally, in thirty minutes from activation they exploded automatically. Only a few of the Seals were carrying their machine guns, and if needed, the others would use their 9mm automatics or their long knives. The Seals met on the factory level. They placed three hundred and twenty bars of C-4. They completed their job in fifteen minutes, and all but ten Seals quietly headed for the helicopters.
Bill, the Captain, and eight Seals headed for the mullah’s quarters. He and his four wives lived in a three room windowless apartment under the mosque. They checked his apartment door for security devices and there were none. The team removed several lights in the hallway near the apartment. They sprayed the edges of the door with lubricant. Once they picked the lock, they carefully opened the door into the apartment. Wearing night vision glasses, nine Seals entered the rooms, and one guarded the door with his machine gun. They removed one small light bulb from a table lamp. In pitch black, Bill and three Seals drew their long knives and stood over the mullah’s sleeping wives. The same men that tied and bagged Ishak Ahmed hovered over the mullah. The Captain assigned Bill to the wife in the same bed as the mullah.
Bill stood on the opposite side of the bed from the Captain. He could not see the face of the woman. This will not be easy for me to do, he thought. Then he thought of Mira and his mind was arguing with his conscious. One hour earlier, he killed four men in the same position without a thought. She is part of this. She helped train little boys as murders. She is as guilty as her husband.
The Captain raised his arm. When he lowered it, the Seals acted in one motion. Each knife raised and lowered two times. Bill’s first thrust was with two hands and his second thrust was with one hand. He drove the blade as deep as it would go, and the lower edge of his bare hand felt the woman’s warm blood. He released his grip and did not remove the knife from her chest. He used her white sheet to wipe the blood from his hands.
Again, the large Seal placed the bag containing the captured mullah over his shoulder. Nine Seals raced for the back door of the mosque. Their helicopter flew closer and landed near the front of the field. The other helicopters were on their way back to the ship. Bill had just broken a rule by allowing his mind to leave the mission. He was the last man to leave the apartment and the Seal carrying the mullah was twenty-five yards in front of him. He was once again thinking by the numbers.
As he raced down the hall, a door opened and Bill stopped. The hall was very dark, but there was light coming from the apartment. He is a cleric and he will give an alarm, Bill thought. The man was taller than Bill and wore only long pants. The door opened inward and the man had used his right hand. His left hand held a knife and they were less than a foot apart. The knife lunged towards Bill’s chest.
His mind realized that the man was in a checkmate position. Bill’s training took over. One, Bill caught the man’s left wrist with his right hand. Bill made his moves using powerful blows, two, three, and four. Still holding the cleric’s wrist, Bill adjusted his fall and finished him with a right knee to his extended chin. His opponent’s feet lifted from the ground with the final blow. Bill’s mind took over and his night vision glasses added a strange green hue to the still body. The cleric’s long knife was near Bill’s right foot and it was identical to the one he had just left in the woman. He picked it up and ran for the helicopter.
They had less than two minutes before the automatic explosion would occur. Eight Seals reached and entered the helicopter and the Seal carrying the mullah was fifteen seconds behind. He tossed the long black bag into the helicopter, and climbed aboard. Bill arrived at the open door of the helicopter a few seconds later and jumped head first through the door as the explosives detonated. They felt the shock wave as the helicopter lifted.
Three large secondary explosions rocked the site as thousands of pounds of gun powder exploded in the factory area. The pilot was going to fly over and examine the damage, but decided against it. He headed directly to the carrier. A large crater replaced the mosque in Dhuudo and it took almost three hours for the fire and smoke to subside. The satellite recorded the explosion and observed no life. Its automatic analysis program marked it as an industrial accident. One hundred photos were marked top-secret and placed in a special folder for the SOD.
With broken memories of the past
A second life starts at speed
The chains that bind him to the last
The chains that fuel his vengeful need
Chapter 4
The flight back to the carrier was a little over two hundred miles. The ship had moved off shore, deep into international waters. The Captain and Bill sat on the floor of the helicopter and between them were two body bags. The Captain unzipped and removed the mullah from a body bag, and Bill did the same to Ishak Ahmed. They removed the black cloth bags covering their heads and the tape covering their eyes and mouths. The Captain said, “Give both of them water.” Then the Captain stepped over the mullah and went to the second captive Ishak, and asked in Arabic, “What’s your name?” Ishak looked up at the two black men with Caucasian features. His answer was not in Arabic, but in an African language. Bill smiled.
It was a second language he learned from the twins. They never gave it a name, but it was Majerteen. Bill and Ishak talked for a few minutes, and Ishak claimed he knew nothing, and the only person who dealt with him was the mullah. Nets covered the side doors of the helicopter. The Captain unhooked the back clip, half of the heavy net fell to the floor and flapped slowly in the strong wind. They were over the Indian Ocean and well off shore, “We need a name,” Bill said to him in Majerteen. He did not answer. The mullah was sitting up with his mouth wide open, watching as the Captain nodded to Bill.
“Then, I’ll give you a name. The name is Mira.”
Ishak tried to say the name that sounded so strange to him.
“Your boys murdered my sister Mira.” Ishak understood. Six months earlier the village had celebrated the event. Bill stood and with his right hand grabbed Ishak’s shirt just above his heart and with his left hand firmly holding a wall handle, he threw Ishak from the helicopter. The mullah knew that he was next and his mind was racing to find a name that would save his life.
The Captain whispered to Bill, “Don’t say a word.”
Bill thought, I think I am learning. He will talk on the ship.
Bill’s helicopter was the last to land on the carrier and the Seals were standing together waiting for the Captain. The Air Boss came to the door and the Captain asked
him for a private room that he could use for interrogation. They towed the helicopter to the flight deck elevator. The Air Boss rode in the cart that towed it and the Seals followed on foot. The large elevator lowered them to the hanger deck, and towed it to the far end of the hanger bay. The Air Boss told them to follow him on foot and the large Seal put the mullah over his shoulder. The Captain, Bill, and the large Seal holding the mullah followed the Air Boss to a windowless room. The other Seals followed, but the Captain told them to go to the galley. He looked at the Air Boss and told him to get the CIA agent. He led the Seals to the galley and soon returned with the CIA agent.
They removed the tape from the mullah’s arms and legs and he sat in a chair across the table from Bill, the Captain, and the CIA agent. In Arabic, the agent offered him food and water. The mullah admitted that he was hungry and thirsty and the Captain phoned the galley.
The CIA agent started the interview. “I have a few questions to ask you. You can say nothing and it’ll be just fine.”
The mullah’s eyes opened and a small smile appeared on his lips. “Then I’ll say nothing.” He turned his head and spit onto the floor.
“That’s fine. I’ll have these gentlemen return you to Dhuudo by helicopter.”
The mullah’s heart sank, “Will they take me?”
“For your safety, they’ll take you.”
Wearing big grins the Captain and Bill turned to the mullah and leaned forward.
“What is it you want to know?”
The door opened and a seaman brought a tray of food to the mullah. It was grilled pork chops, mashed potatoes, green beans, and corn bread. The drink was red Kool Aid served in a large ice filled plastic glass. The mullah saw the food and thought. These will be trying times. He ate the food and liked it. The CIA agent started asking questions and the mullah answered them.
