| Draft (Blue) Chapter one $$Ch01-Blue$$ “Does this look like jungle rot?” Hanley shoved his bare foot at Williams. “I think it looks like rot.” Jermaine smacked the foot of his face. “Man, get that shit out of my face. I will shoot your ass if you do that again. Lost your fuckin’ mind.” “I’ll pay money to see you shoot him,” Glover sniffed the towel he held in his hand before shrugging. He opens a trunk at the end of his cot and pulls out a clean one. “You can’t get jungle rot in the desert, Hanley. We ain’t in Nam.” Hanley looked d... Chapter two $$Ch02-Blue$$ Firebase Connelly was spinning down from the weekends’ ops. Half the Pave lows and Blackhawks had been re-tasked to insert across the border and had left throughout the day. Meaning the noise was now just a series of gunfire from the range and backfires from the vehicle depot rather than the constant low grade cacophony it had been when the helos were still here. Harris was just coming out of the crapper when he ran into Faisal. “Just the guy I was looking for,” Faisal said to him. “Hey man, you... Chapter three $$Ch03-Blue$$ Richard Keating knew when he was being punished. His last diplomatic assignment had been a step down, and he'd brushed off the implied insult with the "everyone gets a turn in the crap locations" rationale. The only good thing about this god-forsaken hell-hole was the hardship pay. The plane approached one of those dangerous runways he'd always heard about -- too short, and surrounded by hills and rocks. His stomach lurched, but he gripped the armrest as they careened in, keeping his face neutra... Margo handed Richard a napkin, producing a handkerchief and soaking it with her water bottle. Honestly, he was worse than her kids when they were little. She'd had to schlep extra clothes for herself and them, for the inevitable spilled body fluid. Nose bleeds, sick, pee, and on one horrible food-poisoned trip, diarrhoea. But not this time. Now she was a foreign service officer. Serving her country, out for adventure and travel, love affairs with foreign diplomats, always a possibility. She was... All Richard wanted to do was brush his damn teeth. The jeep had transported him and Margo to the base near Kanabad. A nondescript man guided them to their quarters, and said that MSG Cole would be ready to meet them at 1600 hours. Richard grabbed the summarised brief of the assignment, reading the details as he scoured his mouth. He was to meet with an organisation wanting to be recognised by the current regime, but who most people, his own government included, considered bandits. Accusations o... MSG Cole greeted them tersely in a makeshift office near the entrance of the main building. He looked like everyone and no one. Could have been a native of the region, could have been a New Yorker, a sheik in the dessert, a refugee on a boat. "What are your instructions?" he asked, no preamble, no small talk. He addressed Richard, hardly acknowledging Margo's presence. "A clandestine meeting has been arranged between myself, Ms Poole, and three of the leaders of the Kundi." Richard waved the l... Margo had yielded to pressure that she cover herself in the clothes provided, a traditional robe and headscarf. It was simply cultural awareness she told herself, rather than submission to misogynistic directives. The female Mambo could wear men's clothing and look like a man, so she wasn't burdened with reams of extra material and decreased peripheral vision like Margo was. They were driven in a rusty old car to the cafe that had been agreed upon as a meeting place. It was dark by the time the... Richard heard Margo scream in the dark. All his fantasies of rescuing her in some comic book plot dissipated and he couldn't move. A voice spoke in his ear "Mr Keating we're getting you and Ms Poole out." It was over so fast he couldn't even put the pieces together afterwards. Guided through the back rooms, down a tunnel they ran, two of the operatives carrying a moaning Margo. "Put her out", one whispered, and there was a quick rustle, and her moans stopped abruptly. Was she dead? Richard prot... Chapter four $$Ch04-Blue$$ Master Sergeant Dalton Cole was woken up at 4AM local time in his tent to receive a phone call. "Good afternoon MSG Cole," said a business like male voice on the other end. "Same to you, sir," Cole replied, splashing cold water on his face. He was told in a hurry that this was a CIA agent. "I'm en route to the base," the agent said as a car engine could be heard in the background. "How are you taking the new leader role so far?" "Very well, sir. The team was, uh, very tight knit during MSG T... In the dead of night, a dozen or so people weighed down with black duffel bags and what looked to be like filming equipment entered a run down hotel's side entrance. Only three people came out, with not even a backpack between them. The golden sun rose on a slope of sand coloured cubes and windows without glass, making the general cityscape of Annrabur seem redder and hotter than it was in the dry mornings. The city grid was only clear where more colourful buildings of painted concrete and glass faces clustered at a shallow valley. A smaller cluster of highrises, the tourist hub, highlighted a straight road that lead to the valley. Plain domes of mosques and their courtyards were the few uniform open spaces when seen from a... A block from the hotel, Williams confidently walked up to a cluster of rickshaw drivers and asked, "do you know where tourists go to have a good time?" The male drivers started advertising popular destinations in accented English, most wearing masks and standing a meter away. "No, not restaurants. Like, uh, secret restaurants. Serving... brown sugar?" Boykin finished inspecting his DSLR camera and walked up beside his teammate. One driver raised his eyebrows and mumbled something, walking in... Harris poked at his civilian model cellphone, which had no signal. He stood in a dirt paved alley with an overhang of some tent-cloth material. "Should we..." Faisal made the hand signal for radio. "Got it," Harris said quickly and headed forward then left in a fork in the path. They emerged in a courtyard where two kids stopped bouncing a ball to stare at the Americans. "Mama!" A kid yelled, and before the sergeants could react, a heavyset woman with a green khimar and holding a kitchen spoo... "Okay. We've got 24/7 infrared, visual, sonic lasers, and MAPs at every entrance. Cloud cover's bit thick for now but the balloon works better at night." Hanley leaned back in his chair. "Don't you think it's a bit much, all this?" He gestured at the room stocked like a hardware store. "There's no kill like overkill," Cole replied, nodding in approval at himself. "Keep me posted if you see anything." "Yes sir. And by the way, do you have water?" Cole looked at a twelve pack of bottles in a co... The sightseeing duo failed to get their driver to explain the exact location of the 'secret', so they made their way, with many backtracks, to a patio'd cafe. It was a possible location for a clandestine meeting the next day. Boykin stood with his back to an intricately carved wooden door, put on sunglasses and removed his mask. Williams aimed the camera and began the reconnaissance. They switched cameras and angles multiple times, trying to cover all angles of view. Williams kept looking arou... The audio from a few of Hanley's bugs, combined with visual proof of nighttime shipments that no hotel would ever order, was enough proof to organize a raid. The Black Mambas regrouped at the end of the week and on a Friday evening donned their bulletproof vests and unpacked the weapon boxes. Cole would keep tactical watch from his command center, assisted by Glover with his rifle in case anything went wrong. Everyone else would storm the hotel. "All teams checked in," Cole said, his voice be... Chapter five $$Ch05-Blue$$ “Hey, Cole!” Cole looked up from the table, fork poised in midair. “This better be good, Harris. I’ve been jonesing for this meatloaf since…” Harris cut him off in mid-sentence with a sharp wave of his hand as if swatting a pesky fly in the desert heat. “The Ghaf-Yohmar is targeting Keating again.” Cole sat up straight. “Fuck. Is that on the level?” Harris nodded. “Straight from headquarters from a reliable source. Seems like they want us to go save his ass again.” Dinner forgotten, Cole pushed ... The city was a ghost town when they finally pulled up within eyesight of the embassy. There were fewer lights on as the town had finally decided to go to sleep. The team checked their weapons and gear one more time before sitting at attention. Cole surveyed them from the front seat before silently motioning them to fall into their designated positions. After securing the Land Rover Cole took the lead with Boykin close behind, Faisal with Hanley and Glover with Williams guarding the center and Gr... Chapter six $$Ch06-Blue$$ “Okay Varley, I get why you’ve been sent here, and I get why you’re pissed. I’m pissed, Minetti over there hauling ration boxes is pissed. Even the damn dogs that hang around by the trash are pissed. But you can’t throw your toys out the buggy like a little kid - you know the drill. You’re heading up a unit - show some leadership and get yourself under control and even better, your men under control. Extra duty tonight. Report to Group C.” “Yes, Lieutenant-Colonel, sir. Sorry Lieutenant-Colonel ... “See anything Varley?” “Something at one o’clock.” Varley picked up the Humvee’s comms device. “Command, this is Gold Two. We have contact. Two males, three clicks from current position four clicks south south west of Annrabur gate.” “Copy Gold Two. Roger that. Move in. Gold One and Gold Three to backup. Charlie One hang back. You are not heading up this mission today.” “Command, contact with potential hostiles now two point five clicks. Two men in possession of object unknown. Clear to proceed?... “Man, can my week get any better? A dead diplomat and now we’re holding the hands of some grunts while they let off some steam by intimidating the locals… That Keating guy was a good dude. I wouldn’t want to have saved him from a burning building - even Grange would struggle with that on the stairs - but he did us a few solids. When do we get time out to find the guys who did the hit?” “Hey Faisal, what about patience being whatever you said when you last got all philosophical on me? They can’t... Chapter seven $$Ch07-Blue$$ Cole was angrily circling the large tent where Black Mambas commanding staff lived. Harris sat back on his bed and looked at his long-time friend. "Calm down. No good to come out of stressing too much," he said. “Hey, come with me. I want to go for a ride,” Cole said. “In this heat?” Harris was not sure about the idea. “Nah, come on. The sun is setting anyway. A little windy, so not bad. And you wanted me to relax? So help me to.” “Fine. Let’s go.” Harris and Cole left the tent and went to the... Chapter eight $$Ch08-Blue$$ “Men,” Sgt First Class Harris began as he glanced around at his team, the team that should have been his. When Command had promoted Cole, it had been a hard pill to swallow. Harris had seniority, was older and had been assistant team lead for two years, half of his time in the Black Mambas. He was Cole’s senior in so many ways. It had galled him. But orders were orders. He’d worked with Cole all three years the man had been in the unit. Even if he wasn’t thrilled to be passed over for command,... In situations like this, every second counted, and Cole felt like he’d lost far too many seconds setting up the meeting with Morgan, their CIA contact at the base. He comforted himself knowing that his team was getting everything ready so they could go the moment they had what they needed. As he waited in Morgan’s office, losing yet more seconds, he tried to keep his impatience at bay. The man never seemed to be there. He had to know what was going on, didn’t he? Why wasn’t he there? “Sorry to ... Cole, knots in his stomach, radioed Harris that he was on his way back. The mission was a go. Morgan’s parting comment wasn’t helping his nerves any. As if Cole wasn’t aware of the danger. And that comment about not being the right man for the job? That wasn’t what he needed at the moment. Damn it. As he approached his team’s base camp, he set aside his own worries. Now was the time for confidence. He believed in himself and his team. He knew they were up for the mission. The real concern was t... Chapter nine $$Ch09-Blue$$ “Check this out! Gotta be in full battle rattle just to protect your nuts.” Grange barged through the DEFAC waving his cell phone and flopping into the chair across from Cole. Cole laughed, returning to his breakfast of eggs and toast. The photo showed Grange, in full gear, pointing to a faded yellow sign on the barbed wire fence outside: DANGER. KEEP OUT. CHEMICAL AGENTS UNEXPLODED AREA. “Updating your dating profile?” Cole joked before shoveling a fork full of eggs into his mouth. “We roll ou... Chapter ten $$Ch10-Blue$$ The two ratty Toyota Corollas pulled to a stop along the desert road, just before they got to the restaurant. “I’m happy to be outside the wire, but I’m fuckin sick of the MRE life. Maybe after we take care of this shit, we can use their kitchen to make a decent meal,” said Hanley as he climbed out of the passenger seat, the restaurant only two klicks away. “That’s life in the sandbox, man. No decent food anywhere in sight. You’d think being in Asia that we’d have at least a half a shot of getti... Cole reached the rooftop in time to overhear the not-so-intriguing conversation between Glover and Faisal. “Dude, your scrawny ass don’t even look like you could eat a whole cheesesteak, let alone tell me where to go find a good one. I don’t think it would be all that hard to find a decent one in Philly. Kind of like shooting fish in a barrel — you’re bound to hit something eventually,” said Glover. “Man, what do you know about good food? You’re from the midwest. Nothing good comes from there,”... Chapter eleven $$Ch11-Blue$$ Boykin found it hard to sit still. The road was bad enough anyway, without the box concealed in the seat bashing him every time they went over a bump. This slightly scruffy white Corolla was never going to be described as luxurious (and anyway luxury wasn’t what he’d enlisted for) but the extra kit they’d got hidden inside the seat made it particularly uncomfortable. The couple of extra bullet holes and the broken window it had acquired in their “rapid departure” had not added to the luxury imag... The cotton mill was a cluster of several buildings in a commercial estate near the edge of Annrabur with a mixture of run-down fence and wall around it. A now-faded sign over the main gate carried a Dehmari name, with an English subtitle reading “Superior Ginning”. When Boykin had first seen it he’d smiled at the thought of superior gin in Dehmar. There was a large machinery shed, long since stripped of its equipment, a couple of silos and storage sheds and an office and caretaker’s house. There... “So… what next?” asked Boykin after they’d talked through the timeline of the encounter, taking notes of the details they’d learned that might inform their next steps. “Can we get any more intel on what Toolan’s up to?” Bridge said. Cole was unsure whether intel would help them. “Would it add more to a rescue plan? We know roughly where he’s based anyway, so a bit of extra recon might be all we need to identify the exact location for planning the extraction.” He paused, then added “If I can get ... Boykin swigged on his water (again). Something had irritated his throat - the dust? The shouting earlier? It wasn’t really sore yet, but needed to be watched. He shuffled nervously as he rummaged through his pockets for something to suck. “Just need to have little patience, Bill”, Grange said cheerfully. Boykin smiled as he reminisced. “Ah, Patience. I was a dragoon guard in Patience years ago.” “A dragoon guard?” queried Grange. Faisal looked up from cleaning his kit: “It’s a Gilbert and Sulliv... Chapter twelve $$Ch12-Blue$$ It looked a little like Texas, if you stretched your mind. Not a lot. Not as flat. But it had that arid feel to it, despite the green of vegetation all around him. He felt sometimes like he was working his way through a shallow belt of plant life, occasionally poking his head up to feel the dry air stretching up to the mountains above. “Like a catfish in a scummy river,” Grange had said, the one time Hanley tried to explain it to him. That had been the start and the end of their philosophical ch... Chapter thirteen $$Ch13-Blue$$ Grange could be kind of an ass and they were probably marching to their deaths, but this was a trust operation from front to back. That's just how it was going to be. Grange had instincts and some definite idea in his head. But what was it? They'd been and finished the work but now they'd been spotted out beyond the perimeter. So why was Grange marching them straight back toward the compound of their enemy? "You ever think about going home?" Grange was a hulk of a man who looked awkward laid out on the ground. He was looking up at the stars. Sergeant Williams wasn't quite listening. "I guess. As much as base life sucks. I guess I do." "No, I mean home-home.' "You mean like Wyoming?" "That's right. I forgot you were some kind of cowboy, Williams." The two were flat on the ground under cover of some scrub and a small group of trees that on up a ways ran along one side of the back of the Annrabur comp... Williams' drone reconnaissance had made clear they had limited options on this side of the compound. Between two scrubby banks of trees was a triangular spit of land, an open area of turned soil. This abutted the perimeter wall that ran around the back of the compound — cement topped with coiled razor wire. In the middle of the broad stretch of wall and butt up against it there stood another taller wall. It was not hard to guess its purpose — a shielding wall to provide more coverage for the mai... As expected, there was some give between the perimeter and shield walls, and there was some wild shrub there which could hide their handiwork. With a leg up from Grange, Williams was up the wall ini a second and high enough to gain a foothold where the crevice between the two walls was wide enough. They didn't have enough bang to wedge in here to bust either of these walls, but they could sure send up a mess of concrete and dust. Something that might give the impression of an assault from that d... Williams was drawn up short by the sound of voices over the wall. He had enough Dehmari Persian to get that someone had heard or was concerned about something. He had no way to signal Grange, who looked like he might have decided to pack more dirt in behind the rolled kipsack. Just two voices on the far side. A bump of lumber against something hard. Then a 4x4 stuck up over the edge of the inner wall — a makeshift ladder, no doubt — and way too close for comfort. But Williams was stuck right whe... But they hadn't got that far when it became clear they had been spotted moving through the trees. Grange had taken the lead then and was marching them straight back to the compound for some damn reason — Ghaf-Yohmar heavies trailing in their shadow no doubt. Grange was moving ahead of him. "It's gameshow" he had muttered to Williams as they did their quick about face. Now Grange was moving with curious deliberation — a caricature of stealth. From out the trees up ahead a bright light hit them. T... Chapter fourteen $$Ch14-Blue$$ “Are you sure Cole?” He stood up and stared at the cloudless night, “There’s not much else we can do Harris.” He turned to face his team, the cool wind brushed his neck. “We need to get Williams and Grange, as well as the marines out of there.” He gulped away his fear, “and the direct assault is the only way.” Harris glanced over at Glover, “have you go enough ammunition?” He scraped his gun across the floor and checked his backpack. He squinted his eyes and dropped his shoulders, “We’ve got som... The dark curtain was still down on the night’s sky but the sunrise’s hues were beginning to peak through. Glover fitted his sniper rifle with a silencer and pulled his rag over his nose. He watched the enemy’s overwatch from behind. He lifted his left arm up for Faisal to move in. He shot the overwatch in the head for a speedy death. Faisal moved in and caught him before he hit the ground. He dragged him towards the sandbags and retrieve his gun whilst Glover got in place. He pressed his hand to... Chapter fifteen $$Ch15-Blue$$ Like many in Annrabur, the street was narrow and unpaved. Fortunately, the weather had been dry for some weeks, or the road would have been a mud bath. A high wall, the same colour as the dry desert dust, aflame in the afternoon sun, ran along the northern side. Behind that was the fortified camp of Ghaf-Yohmar, a former residential compound, now the stronghold of the terrorist group. Master Sergeant Dalton Cole knew the militia men would have both ends of the street covered. Sergeant First Clas... Chapter sixteen $$Ch16-Blue$$ Cole limped slightly as he was prodded forward by the AK-47 at his back. “I’d have thought you’d be able to afford something better than the AK, the money you’re making.” Ryan Toolan have an extra hard jab in the centre of Cole’s back. “It’s good enough. Works well in the environment. Spares cheap and easy to find.” “So what made you do this then? You were smart when you were with us. One of the best.” “Man gets tired of being pushed around by the politicians, safely hidden away in their bunkers... Chapter seventeen $$Ch17-Blue$$ Thin beams of light streamed through their cell, from the small openings in the ceiling high above them. Cole had initially thought they were like skylights, letting in some light as long as the Sun was in the sky. But as the day had worn on, and the looks on his men’s faces had turned from anger to confusion as to their predicament, he realized that those little windows were bare reminders that they weren’t free. No one who landed in Ghaf-Yohmar’s cells was free - and most never made it out of ... The sound of Harris’s gun hadn’t aroused any attention, but even as he had helped his teammates out of the cell and given each of them what small arms he could carry on his person, he kept looking around wondering if anyone would notice they were all escaping. As he finally got Grange out - he noticed the small window at the top of the cell, with its bars that let light in and kept people from seeing the outside world. This was a terrible place to be trapped and he felt a guttural urge to bring ... Faisal remembered that, at some point during the briefing for this mission, Williams had mumbled that the explosion would make the dust storms in Iraq look like a light haze. Thus far, the sky was clear and the world was still. He was stationed outside the compound, alongside Glover - an uninjured Glover - waiting for their team to resurface and make their way towards the rendezvous point. Secrecy had been important throughout the entire mission, but he was glad they could finally come clean ab... Chapter eighteen $$Ch18-Blue$$ “Damn,” Toolan uttered to himself as the shockwave knocked the dust off the shelves around him. The blast was loud, but it didn’t sound like military ordinance. It sounded like something improvised. He assumed the worst, that his former team had escaped and was on the move. He knew all too well how efficient they were. Toolan was also worried about the new team leader and what he would do here. Operations like this were always just opportunities to burnish one’s reputation, which any ambitious n... Through a rifle scope, a hunched over peasant stumbled out of the house, hobbling on his cane, looking like he was trying to get away from someone inside the dwelling. The villager then hurriedly limped away on his cane as fast as he could as another explosion went off. This one was even closer now. Toolan’s acting was good enough to fool the sniper. He ducked down an alley and disappeared from sight. “What the fuck is going on out there?” The annoyed Ghaf-Yohmar leader stood in his HQ and looked at Toolan like he was the one who’d been setting off all the explosions. Toolan removed his disguise as he replied. “Looks like my old team broke out of your little prison, and I guarantee the guys you have guarding this compound won’t be able to stop them, so now we have to get you out of here.” “I’m paying you a lot of money to stay here and protect me, Toolan, so no, we’re not going anywhere.” The... Chapter nineteen $$Ch19-Blue$$ Dust clouds swirled in front of the small windowless car as it sped across the barren land outside the base. Ryan Toolen raised a finger, pointing toward the side of what passed as the road. The driver swerved and tapped the brakes, coming to a rough stop a few hundred yards south of the base buffer. Toolen fidgeted with the bent door handle, feeling a moment of claustrophobia when it wouldn’t open. He yanked on it, and it responded, a feeling of relief washing over him. He nodded and thanked t... Glover took the lasso in hand and swung it above his head. Mugsy bounded out of reach, and Glover caught a fence post instead. He threw his head back and laughed, his brilliant white teeth flashing. He unwound the rope and started to sing. Tum-tum-tumbleweeds Rumblin’ round my mind Goats bounce on rubber legs The lasso just can’t find Traction like a tumbleweed Rollin’ through the sand I just want to climb my horse The saddle in my hand… Glover started to dance, a cowboy rap beat thumping across the base. His uniform turned into a furry white vest with black cow spots. A bedazzled microphone appeared in his hand as he started spitting out additional lyrics. Hanley swung into action, dancing backup, and others joined in-- a square dance hip hop extravaganza. Soon they were all in cowboy shirts and chaps, ten-gallon hats on their heads. Harris had boots with shiny silver spurs. He started break dancing, the spurs spinning with eac... The cowboy musical continued in Toolan’s mind, growing flashier and more absurd with each passing minute. “Fuck you, Toolan!” That didn’t belong in the musical. He shook his head to clear it. For a moment, as the scene in his mind dissolved, he wondered what the psych team would say about his diversionary daydream. You don’t need to worry about the psych team anymore. You’re retired. As if Toolan hadn’t heard it, Harris repeated himself. “Fuck you, Toolan!” “Hey,” Willams interjected. “Nah, ... His palms were damp as his fingers gripped the steering wheel. The nerves in his stomach buzzed like a nest of bees. He parked in front of the sorority house and checked himself in the mirror before heading to the front door. One of the other girls answered the door and giggled as she ran up the stairs, calling Maggie’s name. A couple of minutes passed and he spent them looking at the framed photos of the house’s former occupants. When Maggie appeared at the top of the staircase, she almost seem... That was before the ugliness. Before the Black Mambas. Before almost everything. Maggie. Now his time with the Mambas was finished. Maybe he could also be finished with the ugliness. For the first time, he realized that he could look her up when he got back. The safety of social media was on his side for once. Just a little peek. He knew he had no right to hope that she would still be single. Someone like Maggie wouldn’t be. But he could still hope. He stepped out of the mess hall trying to re... “Did you text him?” Grange asked. “Off and on the past couple of weeks,” Williams said. “He’s got that sweet security gig lined up. “Is he going to show at the White House?” “I don’t know. He didn’t answer. “You know Cole is going to want to kick your ass for inviting him.” “Fuck Cole. He can kiss my Black ass. We wouldn’t even be getting the medals if it wasn’t for Toolan.” “That’s not how he sees it.” “He only sees what benefits him.” President Jameson wrapped up his remarks. “Anyway, I wanted to thank you gentlemen for coming all the way to DC. I know you all want to get back to your families, so I wanted to keep it brief.” Several of the Mambas smirked because they knew POTUS had a tendency to ramble on and drag things out and he’d already been talking for close to thirty minutes. Williams ignored the others’ amusement and tried to stay focused on the informal ceremony. He looked around the Oval Office and wanted to rememb... After the Black Mambas left the room, President Jameson unbuttoned his jacket and loosened his tie a bit. He sat on the sofa, tugging at the shirt stretched taut across his belly. The CIA Director, Madison, sat south of the president, elbows on his knees, leaning forward with interest. “So?” Jameson asked. “We’ve recovered data from three drives. We have our best team on it and should have some information for you soon. The Mambas did good work. Of course, I’ll update you as soon as they unencry... Draft (Green) Chapter one $$Ch01-Green$$ Everything changed when men hit the sandboxes. Jealousy was to be expected in these environments and word had spread that C-Squadron, The Black Mambas, had arrived back on base. The selections left some ruffled feathers amongst the regular troops; the process bruised egos. Being a member of Black Mamba required a certain mind and skill set and some men just weren’t made for it. The high attrition rate was testament to that. In his opinion, the attitudes of the men denied a spot toward those who ... Chapter two $$Ch02-Green$$ Wait? What? Back the fuck up? Did they just hand the promotion to Cole? They sure the fuck did. Well, shit. Didn’t see that coming. Those are the thoughts each member of the Black Mambas had going through their heads the moment they made the announcement. Eyes darted towards Harris. He sat stoned face, but the clench of his jaw told them everything they needed to know. Harris is not fucking happy. Not happy at all. Because technically, he should have gotten the promotion. Assistant team leader. ... Chapter three $$Ch03-Green$$ “Serg, the perimeter has been secured and we’re ready for the diplomat’s arrival.” Master Sergeant Dalton Cole looked across the airfield at his men. His men. The change was still fresh in his mind. He’d have to get used to it. And Harris. But that was a problem for another day. The big C-130 lumbered through the silent desert air, making its way through the twists and turns of the mountains surrounding the airstrip. The afternoon felt too quiet. They were all on the lookout. It was easy to fin... Chapter four $$Ch04-Green$$ “Can I have some?” Hanley asked. Grange and Faisal did not turn to acknowledge Hanley’s presence or request. Faisal was holding a small paper bag with a rolled top to make it easier to grab at whatever was inside. Grange did his best to squeeze his hand into the bag to pinch at whatever was inside with his forefingers. The bag crinkled and he rooted with his forefingers, but Grange ended up with a couple of small, white morsels that he brought to his lips. “It was another hot one today,” Grange ... “This has got to be for us,” Harris told Cole. “In my experience, intelligence doesn’t show up in-person, unannounced unless it’s for the Mambas.” The two men were loitering outside of the Command Center. After Grange had given them the news about the car coming in, they came to this spot and watched a clean-shaven black man in a suit step out of a black SUV and walk into the tent. “In my experience,” Cole said, “it doesn’t help to think about something that might not happen.” “You've got a num... The humvees drove across Dehmar without any major events, though no one from the Black Mambas slept in the bumpy ride over the mountains. The men passed the time in their usual way—playing desert island, never have I ever, and would you rather. When they arrived at the safe house, the sun was just coming up. A Dehmari man came running out to greet them and ushered them out of their vehicles. Another man started pulled a large, brown tarp over the vehicles and grabbed a push broom to clear the t... The briefing at 1400 was satisfactory. Cole assembled the team in the dining room with a half dozen screens up—some with live camera feeds, some with pictures of the known drug runners, some with aerial pictures of the route from the facility to the airport. Morgan stood in the doorway and watched as Cole outlined the plan. It was a mere 15 minutes before Cole let everyone go to relax. At 1800, the squad left Morgan at the house to watch the monitors. Each man wore two body cameras, one on his h... Chapter five $$Ch05-Green$$ The helicopter bucked under the strong winds in the valley between the rugged mountaintops of Dehmar. Even now, in September, snow covered the tips and the sheen of the ice glared in the strong sunlight. Unable to fly higher because of density altitude, the aircraft struggled to make it through the narrow pass. A particularly strong gust sent the craft careening toward the towering cliffs and a narrow river appeared out the right side of the helicopter for a moment before righting itself. “Like ... Chapter six $$Ch06-Green$$ “Okay Varley, I get why you’ve been sent here, and I get why you’re pissed. I’m pissed, Minetti over there hauling ration boxes is pissed. Even the damn dogs that hang around by the trash are pissed. But you can’t throw your toys out the buggy like a little kid - you know the drill. You’re heading up a unit - show some leadership and get yourself under control and even better, your men under control. Extra duty tonight. Report to Group C.” “Yes, Lieutenant-Colonel, sir. Sorry Lieutenant-Colonel ... “See anything Varley?” “Something at one o’clock.” Varley picked up the Humvee’s comms device. “Command, this is Gold Two. We have contact. Two males, three clicks from current position four clicks south south west of Annrabur gate.” “Copy Gold Two. Roger that. Move in. Gold One and Gold Three to backup. Charlie One hang back. You are not heading up this mission today.” “Command, contact with potential hostiles now two point five clicks. Two men in possession of object unknown. Clear to proceed?... “Man, can my week get any better? A dead diplomat and now we’re holding the hands of some grunts while they let off some steam by intimidating the locals… That Keating guy was a good dude. I wouldn’t want to have saved him from a burning building - even Grange would struggle with that on the stairs - but he did us a few solids. When do we get time out to find the guys who did the hit?” “Hey Faisal, what about patience being whatever you said when you last got all philosophical on me? They can’t... Chapter seven $$Ch07-Green$$ "Team meeting, now," barked Cole as he stormed into the tent. Glover looked up, still struggling to get his boots off. "Hey, man, what's the rush? We only just got in, for fuck's sake." "Yeah, I haven't even had time to take a crap yet," added Faisal, unbuckling his harness and throwing it onto his cot. Cole had reached the table that served as their impromptu meeting room. "I said NOW!" Glances were flung between the men and a short silence fell. Hanley and Faisal stood up, as if to comply, but... Dealing with that mess - the administration, not the street cleaning - took an hour they really didn't have. By the time they were able to get back together in their tent, Cole was getting anxious. "You did good," said Harris. "Even Toolan might not have handled that as well." "Thanks," said Cole. "I think the learning is that we all did our jobs, and we got the right outcome. Agreed?" Nods and murmurs signified assent around the table. "Now," he continued, "I want to return to the subject of th... Chapter eight $$Ch08-Green$$ “Men,” Sgt First Class Harris began as he glanced around at his team, the team that should have been his. When Command had promoted Cole, it had been a hard pill to swallow. Harris had seniority, was older and had been assistant team lead for two years, half of his time in the Black Mambas. He was Cole’s senior in so many ways. It had galled him. But orders were orders. He’d worked with Cole all three years the man had been in the unit. Even if he wasn’t thrilled to be passed over for command,... In situations like this, every second counted, and Cole felt like he’d lost far too many seconds setting up the meeting with Morgan, their CIA contact at the base. He comforted himself knowing that his team was getting everything ready so they could go the moment they had what they needed. As he waited in Morgan’s office, losing yet more seconds, he tried to keep his impatience at bay. The man never seemed to be there. He had to know what was going on, didn’t he? Why wasn’t he there? “Sorry to ... Cole, knots in his stomach, radioed Harris that he was on his way back. The mission was a go. Morgan’s parting comment wasn’t helping his nerves any. As if Cole wasn’t aware of the danger. And that comment about not being the right man for the job? That wasn’t what he needed at the moment. Damn it. As he approached his team’s base camp, he set aside his own worries. Now was the time for confidence. He believed in himself and his team. He knew they were up for the mission. The real concern was t... Chapter nine $$Ch09-Green$$ The white bus seemed out of place. Armored Personal Carriers, tanks, AH-64s. These belonged here. A white Provost painted with the logo of the Red Cross should not have seemed out of place. Every combat zone had a dozen. As Staff Sergeant Chris Grange walked toward the bus he realized that it wasn’t the bus that was out of place. The rifles, machine guns, and ammo boxes being loaded into the cargo holds were out of place. “Now you have become death, the destroyer of worlds”, he mumbled under his... “Black Mambas!” Master Sergeant Dolton Cole yelled from his location directly behind the driver. “Hoorah!” The unit replied. “Fecking Yanks” mutter Kite from the driver’s seat. The bus was immediately devoid of any motion or noise. Morgan looked at Kite. “Let get going”. Kite picked up the radio. “Get to your business.” Cole looked over the men. Deep breath. Sorting some papers. He began. “Secondary briefings prior to operational deployment will commence. “Recap of the primary briefing is as fo... The convoy pulled into a parking lot surrounded by multi-story buildings. The men in the bus shuffled away from the windows and instinctively reached for firearms that were stowed below. “Gentlemen”, Victor said, “please let me assure you that I have personally overseen the securing of this area as I have no intention of dying here today. With the generosity of your country’s NGOs I’ve managed to purchase this block and have staffed security with my colleagues. All of whom served in Her Majesty... “Excuse me ma’am, we’ve been instructed to assist with the children today”. Faisal was speaking to a woman in a hijab in Persian. “He’s… huge!” She replied. “The kids will love him. We don’t know why, but they all do.” “He must have Allah in his heart.” “He would agree with you if you can accept his name for Allah.” “Ah…” she said thoughtfully. “A man of kindness wrapped in the shape of a bear!” Faisal translated this in realtime to Granger. Granger burst out in his normal raucous laughter and ... The “room” Faisal and Granger worked out of was nothing more than a large office with a table on one side. The table was for examination, writing and any other activity that needed a flat surface higher than the floor. When they arrived, the room was already full of parents and children under the age of 6 with a long line down the hall. The children were in various states of unhappiness. “Please be courteous of the mothers and daughters. I know it is rude to say, but I must.” As Faisal translat... “Faisal, who is this?” “This is Kahli.” “Hello Kahli, you can call me Bear.” Kahli buried her face in the young boy’s shoulder. “Faisal…?” After some exchange, Faisal replied, “the is Ahmed, her brother. He is 10. Their farther forbade them from coming here but he doesn’t want her to die. His other sisters have died of ‘the fever’ and his mother won’t leave the house.” “Boy has balls.” Granger started doing some basic checks. Temperature. Pulse. Eyes. Ears. “She has a cold. I don’t think this is... “… arrival needs to be 15min after the delivery.” Morgan and Cole were discussing some change in the op. “Granger, Faisal, great work. You worked that kid perfectly.” “You mean we treated him with respect and listened to what he said?” Granger was standing over Morgan looking at him with a bit more disdain than was appropriate. “You know, if you all stopped being part of the problem…” Faisal stepped between them. “The kid was scared. All we did was offer some hope for his sister. There was no w... Chapter ten $$Ch10-Green$$ Siavush and the Bear September nights come swiftly, and often unanticipated, after the long deception of a cloud feathered sky’s slow dimming. Siavush flicked aside the oily embroidered curtains that separated the kitchen from the seating area of the restaurant. His eyes flicked through habitual patterns across the gloom. Around low tables—burdened with coffee glasses in various state of depletion, caramel mounds of tobacco leaf and the remaining morsels of dinner—those who lingered in the after... Chapter eleven $$Ch11-Green$$ “Fuck this,” Grange grinds a half-smoked roll-up under his boot and glares at the team leader. “I vote we eat, talk, plan.” He turns on his heel and covers the ground to the vehicle in six easy strides. The others exchange agreement, allowing the practicalities of Grange’s suggestion to temporarily overrule disbelief and anger. Back at base – a shabby assortment of rooms in a low-budget hotel on the darker side of Annrabur – Boykin puts his limited Dehmari Persian and even more limited charm to use. He thinks the sulky youth at the desk has understood enough to phone through a food order, although given the language barrier, he can’t be sure. Boykin hopes the crumpled notes shoved into the lad’s hand, the dodgy grammatical constructs and the repetition of the Dehmari words for food, here, room, now, the emphasised cert... In the dimly lit lobby, a teetering pile of pizza boxes form a barrier between Boykin and the cramped space behind the desk. The pungent smell of garlic and hot dough draws them in. Behind the stack, the figure at the desk is not the boy Boykin had spoken to before. As they approach, the man who is not that boy raises his head lazily, pushes back the low-brimmed cap from his head, but Boykin and Williams have already stopped, hands automatically on their weapons. “Toolan.” Williams says, gun in ... Boykin kicks on the door, calls out quietly for someone to open it. Hanley pulls it open, surprise momentarily crossing his face before his usual calm façade replaces it. “Saves us lookin’ for him, anyway.” He holds the door wide to expose Toolan to the room. Toolan is ushered into the room by Williams’ gun, the pizza boxes a leaning tower in his hands. Williams and Boykin keep their guns on him, already knowing they won’t be using them yet. Whatever Toolan has become, stupid won’t be on the lis... Chapter twelve $$Ch12-Green$$ It looked a little like Texas, if you stretched your mind. Not a lot. Not as flat. But it had that arid feel to it, despite the green of vegetation all around him. He felt sometimes like he was working his way through a shallow belt of plant life, occasionally poking his head up to feel the dry air stretching up to the mountains above. “Like a catfish in a scummy river,” Grange had said, the one time Hanley tried to explain it to him. That had been the start and the end of their philosophical ch... Chapter thirteen $$Ch13-Green$$ Dawn. Early enough for the sand-swept streets of Annrabur to be mostly empty, but not so early that two Western tourists wandering around its northern district would seem too conspicuous—excepting for the rarity of tourists at all. Williams had an old Leica slung around his neck, and whenever a local was in sight, he would drop to his knee and take a shot of a dusty square, a mosque, a building corner. There was no film in the camera, something he now regretted, as through the viewfinder the red... Planting the first charge was easy. Leaning against one of the buildings they found a wooden pallet on some old hessian sacking. Williams crouched down, pretending to tie his shoe lace, and within a minute of Grange giving him the all clear for pedestrians, the C4 was tucked away between the wall and the pallet, covered by a sack. The location of the second was trickier. A long, narrow alley ran between two of the tall walls between compounds. Williams wanted to place a charge right at its centre. “If anyone sees us, we’re fucked,” protested Grange. “There’s no way out if they cover both entrances.” Williams surveyed the streets. A withered old lady, leaning against a middle-aged man in a baseball cap and jeans, trudged, with great effort, up three steps to the entrance of a house, and then they both disappeared inside. A... Number three was straightforward. Two streets along and parallel to the alley, on a cobblestone street that made Williams think of his wife tipsily tripping over her heels in Pine Bluffs, they found a covered entrance with a boarded-up doorway. They sat on the step, ostensibly and perhaps ostentatiously swigging water from dirty bottles, while Williams prodded the C4 into an out-of-sight nook. Grange was feeling talkative again. “You think Harris is ever going to forgive Cole for being promoted ... “This is a good breach point,” said Williams. “Huh. No shit,” said Grange. They had been standing for some time now staring at one of the outer walls of a courtyard next to a small square, but they didn’t have to worry about passersby wondering what they were doing, because the wall was covered in a huge and colourful mural. To anyone walking or driving past, they were just two tourists admiring the mural. “Well, you wanted colour,” said Williams. “What the fuck does it mean?” pondered Grange. “... Chapter fourteen $$Ch14-Green$$ “Are you sure Cole?” He stood up and stared at the cloudless night, “There’s not much else we can do Harris.” He turned to face his team, the cool wind brushed his neck. “We need to get Williams and Grange, as well as the marines out of there.” He gulped away his fear, “and the direct assault is the only way.” Harris glanced over at Glover, “have you go enough ammunition?” He scraped his gun across the floor and checked his backpack. He squinted his eyes and dropped his shoulders, “We’ve got som... The dark curtain was still down on the night’s sky but the sunrise’s hues were beginning to peak through. Glover fitted his sniper rifle with a silencer and pulled his rag over his nose. He watched the enemy’s overwatch from behind. He lifted his left arm up for Faisal to move in. He shot the overwatch in the head for a speedy death. Faisal moved in and caught him before he hit the ground. He dragged him towards the sandbags and retrieve his gun whilst Glover got in place. He pressed his hand to... Chapter fifteen $$Ch15-Green$$ Cole sat up. The ringing in his ears was familiar, but that didn’t make it any less painful. He did what he always did in these situations, and that was to remember the instructor hauling him out of a water tunnel on the British commando course: “Compose yourself!” Cole did just that. He straightened his neck and pressed his back against the roof of the half-turned VW bus, already growing warm with the flames inside. The flames would reach the fuel tank soon, but that was not his priority. His p... Chapter sixteen $$Ch16-Green$$ “You’re a fucking traitor, you fucking bastard.” Hanley spat the words at Harris as the Ghaf Yohmar terrorists struggled to hold him. Harris just smirked and moving towards him, punching him in the stomach, hard enough for Hanley to puke on the floor just missing Harris, who jumped back. Hanley straightened, turning his head to wipe his chin on his tee, then looking at Harris with pure hatred and revenge written over his face, then he smiled. “Cole is the perfect choice for the MSG, you, you’re ... Chapter seventeen $$Ch17-Green$$ Cole stood next to the door, straining to see through the small window. He tapped his fingers on the hardwood. It seemed solid enough. Too solid to force it, and he had no tools in here for that, anyway. He looked around the small room, lit by the flickering flames of two lanterns. Their interference patterns generated moving shadows. Boykin stood on the other side of the door, his ear close to the hinge where there was a gap, listening to the muted voices farther down the hall. It stunk in her... Chapter eighteen $$Ch18-Green$$ Toolan turns at the boom and crash of bricks. Flashes of yellow and green show a quickly rising plume of dust above the squat houses covered in night. The lights die, the darkness returns, punctuated by the sound of vehicles and shouts. His nostrils widen; they have lost. The Mambas have come. A surging slurry of delight and fight mixes in his veins. Alarmed yells from the men gathered under the arch bring his attention back to his surroundings, although his body has already begun tensing and tu... Chapter nineteen $$Ch19-Green$$ September in Dehmar was only mildly cooler than August in Dehmar. It had been five years since he’d come to this god-forsaken corner of the world five years of dust, sand, and blood. He was done. There was a time he was proud of being one of the Black Mambas. A time when he felt like he belonged. It was why he was here, now. It was why he’d done what he had done— at least that’s what he told himself. The truth was, the past was catching up with him and he wanted to make amends for what he’d don... Staff Sergeant Michael Glover sat in the small tower that gave him a commanding view of the surrounding area while giving him as much cover as possible. While most people write off the people of Dehmar as a pack of hide-bound, backward-thinking traditionalists, in truth, the Ghaf-Yohmar were quick adopters of any technology that would give them the upper hand. It was not uncommon to see nomads following traditional trade routes while scouting ahead with drones they’d purchased through Amazon. T... Master Sergeant Dalton Cole had stepped away from the table when Glover’s comments and Faisal’s swearing came across the comms. He wasn’t sure which was worse. How calm Glover seemed or the swearing that was now coming from the usually laid-back, self-appointed team medic. “Make sure he’s alone,” Cole added as he nodded towards Hanley and Boykin. “You two are with me. The rest of you - spread out, take positions… Harris, I want you to man the camera feeds - I’m not sure what’s going to happen bu... Toolan paused as the men manning the gate checked his credentials. They were outdated, but things tended to move at their own pace out here, if they moved at all, insha'Allah. He wondered how many times he’d heard the phrase over the course of his career, and how many languages he’d spoken them in. ‘God willing.’ Did God will this or was this all man’s doing? Did it even matter anymore? He waited, knowing it was a matter of time before his men— his former men caught wind of his arrival. It was n... Harris followed the cameras as Toolan made a straight line to the motor pool. At least he was going where he was directed. That was something. He watched as Morgan made a show of inspecting the vehicles and ignoring Toolan until his circuit took him back to the entrance. “Toolan,” he said cordially. “Didn’t expect to see you here any time soon. Trying to get the band back together?” “Cut the crap J,” Toolan said with a sigh. “We both know I’d pull back here after my little side job paid off, it’... Cole climbed the stairs to check in with Glover and Faisal. He knew they wanted to see Toolan almost as much as he wanted to— but he figured he’d give them the chance. He was more than a little surprised when Faisal was the first to reply with a head shake and a “just give us the reader’s condensed digest version,” he suggested. “So far, all I know for sure is— he’s here for Morgan.” “Well, that can be— interesting?” Faisal asked, unsure what exactly Cole would call a visit with Morgan. Glover g... Cole wasn’t sure what to expect when he got back, but Toolan, telling tall tales to anyone who’d listen was the most likely option. “… like I was saying, this was my last mission,” he heard Toolan say as he entered the area designated ‘the Canteen’ and poured himself a cup of coffee. “Tell us the one where you quit and hired out to the other side— or the one where you swore you were done dealing with the CIA,” Cole prompted, keeping his tone even. “Cole— it was an assignment, the retirement was ... When the evac chopper arrived the next day, there was no sign of Morgan or Toolan. It was just the remaining members of the Black Mambas, the pilot, and two reporters. The chopper took them from Kanabad and dropped them off at the U.S. Air force base in Izmir, Turkey. From there it was a transport bus to Istanbul Sabiha Gökcen Airport where they grabbed a flight home to Dulles International on Qatar airlines. To Cole, it was as if they were deep sea divers surfacing in steps as they headed home,... Draft (Red) Chapter one $$Ch01-Red$$ Everything changed when men hit the sandboxes. Jealousy was to be expected in these environments and word had spread that C-Squadron, The Black Mambas, had arrived back on base. The selections left some ruffled feathers amongst the regular troops; the process bruised egos. Being a member of Black Mamba required a certain mind and skill set and some men just weren’t made for it. The high attrition rate was testament to that. In his opinion, the attitudes of the men denied a spot toward those who ... Chapter two $$Ch02-Red$$ Firebase Connelly was spinning down from the weekends’ ops. Half the Pave lows and Blackhawks had been re-tasked to insert across the border and had left throughout the day. Meaning the noise was now just a series of gunfire from the range and backfires from the vehicle depot rather than the constant low grade cacophony it had been when the helos were still here. Harris was just coming out of the crapper when he ran into Faisal. “Just the guy I was looking for,” Faisal said to him. “Hey man, you... Chapter three $$Ch03-Red$$ Investigative Report on the Incident of September 16, 2020 The following is transcribed from the recording device found in the possession of subject Tommie Miller. The device is quite sophisticated; its miniaturization and voice-triggered noise-cancelling microphone involve technology that is not generally available for civilian use. It also has a GPS receiver, so each segment of the recording has a time and location attached. The transcript is followed by a summary of the Activity Report prepa... Chapter four $$Ch04-Red$$ CIA officer Morgan walked into the Black Mambas base near desert city of Kanabad. He blinked and rubbed his eyes into obedience, temporarily blind in the shade. Outside, September sun was in its best shape, powdering the desert mercilessly with its glare. Around him, men’s voices and metallic sounds of guns and amno being kept in working state with top-notch precision. In the distance, what sounded like a TV. Then: “Hey, officer Morgan, what brings you here today, sir?” Morgan turned to see SFC... That person was Richard G. Keating, a recent transplant to the US Embassy in Kanabad, Dehmar, arriving to the base to brief the eight members of this most elite military group about a rather last-minute mission. Just the sight of the trained men standing in front of him made him reconsider starting to work out. He felt like high school all over again, being cornered by a couple of football players that ruled the corridors. His big eyes behind glasses gave him the look of being permanently terrif... Indeed, it was a quiet night in Kanabad. The place looked almost idyllic under the dome of starry sky. However, a random passersby might have noticed a shadow on a roof, which would be Staff Sergeant Michael Glover keeping an eye on his fellow soldiers, ready to send a bullet diving through an enemy’s head, decorating walls with some bloody contemporary art. If this random passerby wandered to an undescriptive house at the outskirts of Kanabad, he might have noticed a flash of light or two, whic... Chapter five $$Ch05-Red$$ Team 1, 2nd Troop, C Squadron, aka “The Black Mambas” walked toward their base. The unremarkable grey low rise apartment building, was situated in an ordinary Kanabad street. It’s small square windows, sported the curved brown grilles of iron oxidized by the dry desert air. People moved through the street going about their business. Women could be seen wearing the religious hijab or scarf, draped around their heads and upper body. Some women wore a face covering called the niqab. Children held o... Master sergeant Dalton Cole recognized the importance of blending in with the local people as much as possible. His innocuous looking rucksack mirrored that of the seven other men who walked with him towards their base. His rucksack contained among other things, a powerful machine gun, a hand gun, ammunition, a number of grenades and an emergency medical kit. Also, night vision goggles that had proved so useful on a number of other missions. Of course he carried a special compact phone and a ver... The Black Mambas entered their base. Sergeant First Class Tom Harris, deposited his rucksack heavily onto the brown carpet tiled floor, of his bedroom. He then walked briskly to the shared kitchen. He selected a freshly cooked steak dinner that had been prepared by one of the two chefs. The chef’s worked in the large restaurant standard kitchen, which was situated in the basement of the building. Sergeant Harris liked his steak rare. He took it to the large kitchen table. He ate his dinner qui... The Black Mambas had been back at base for just under two hours, when Sergeant Cole Dalton called them to the briefing room. This was a secure room in the building, equipped with soundproofing, a smart board, a large ordnance survey wall map of Kanabad and the surrounding area and a projector. The room also had a bullet proof door. The familiar square jawed face of Morgan appeared on the screen. “ We have received intelligence that Ghaf-Yohmar are planning to attack and kill Keating. Master Se... The sun has risen and shines brightly on the scant succulent and shrubby plants of the hills. The Black Mambas make their way quickly and quietly down from the hill. The two vans are parked just where they were left seemingly a lifetime ago. The body of Keating is placed carefully into the van. On his return to base, Sergeant Dalton Cole takes the body of Keating to the morgue. The base has a morgue built for this purpose. Keating’s body will be flown back to the USA, to his family as soon as that can be arranged. Sergeant Dalton and his team go straight to the briefing room. Morgan is there and they want to know what happened. They want to know what Morgan knows. When did he become aware of the imminent threat to Keating’s life. Sergeant Grange gets a sudden craving for one of his Cub... Morgan is standing in front of the briefing room podium. He is gripping the sides of the podium so hard, that his knuckles look purple. He looks stressed. He asks The Black Mambas to be seated. Morgan talks about his remorse and sadness for the bereaved family of Keating. Sergeant Dalton stands up. He asks Morgan outright whether he sent The Black Mambas out on the earlier mission, with the aim of leaving Keating vulnerable to attack by Ghaf- Yohmar. Sergeant Dalton watches as Morgan swallows an... Chapter six $$Ch06-Red$$ “Okay Varley, I get why you’ve been sent here, and I get why you’re pissed. I’m pissed, Minetti over there hauling ration boxes is pissed. Even the damn dogs that hang around by the trash are pissed. But you can’t throw your toys out the buggy like a little kid - you know the drill. You’re heading up a unit - show some leadership and get yourself under control and even better, your men under control. Extra duty tonight. Report to Group C.” “Yes, Lieutenant-Colonel, sir. Sorry Lieutenant-Colonel ... “See anything Varley?” “Something at one o’clock.” Varley picked up the Humvee’s comms device. “Command, this is Gold Two. We have contact. Two males, three clicks from current position four clicks south south west of Annrabur gate.” “Copy Gold Two. Roger that. Move in. Gold One and Gold Three to backup. Charlie One hang back. You are not heading up this mission today.” “Command, contact with potential hostiles now two point five clicks. Two men in possession of object unknown. Clear to proceed?... “Man, can my week get any better? A dead diplomat and now we’re holding the hands of some grunts while they let off some steam by intimidating the locals… That Keating guy was a good dude. I wouldn’t want to have saved him from a burning building - even Grange would struggle with that on the stairs - but he did us a few solids. When do we get time out to find the guys who did the hit?” “Hey Faisal, what about patience being whatever you said when you last got all philosophical on me? They can’t... Chapter seven $$Ch07-Red$$ MSG Dalton Cole found the whole team lying around the common room of their billet when he got back from the command block. Most were only wearing shorts and they’d opened all the shutters, but the heat was still close to unbearable, the redolent smell of sweat taking him back to his high school football days, and that awful locker room. They all looked up as he came through the door, all but one acknowledging him with a swift “Boss” before they went back to what they were doing. Glover had stri... Dalton realised he was back at the Bar at the Folies Bergere, again. He didn’t dream often, or if he did he didn't remember, but the bar at the folies bergere seemed to crop up more frequently than he thought it should. The dream stemmed from a painting by Édouard Manet, a French impressionist. Set in the late eighteen hundreds the painting shows a pretty, but sad looking blonde barmaid, behind her bar. Various bottles, and a display of oranges in a bowl, stand on the bar in front of her. Behin... A loud crash shattered the dream and Dalton found himself still lying on his cot with his handgun pointed at Harris who was glowering in the doorway. “You fucking idiot!” Dalton said, sitting up and putting his handgun down. “I could have shot you. Knock first in future, would you?” “No!” Harris spat as he came in and slammed the door behind him. “You’re not going to take us on another half arsed mission, no matter how noble the others say it is. It’s your fault those marines got taken by the G... Chapter eight $$Ch08-Red$$ “Men,” Sgt First Class Harris began as he glanced around at his team, the team that should have been his. When Command had promoted Cole, it had been a hard pill to swallow. Harris had seniority, was older and had been assistant team lead for two years, half of his time in the Black Mambas. He was Cole’s senior in so many ways. It had galled him. But orders were orders. He’d worked with Cole all three years the man had been in the unit. Even if he wasn’t thrilled to be passed over for command,... In situations like this, every second counted, and Cole felt like he’d lost far too many seconds setting up the meeting with Morgan, their CIA contact at the base. He comforted himself knowing that his team was getting everything ready so they could go the moment they had what they needed. As he waited in Morgan’s office, losing yet more seconds, he tried to keep his impatience at bay. The man never seemed to be there. He had to know what was going on, didn’t he? Why wasn’t he there? “Sorry to ... Cole, knots in his stomach, radioed Harris that he was on his way back. The mission was a go. Morgan’s parting comment wasn’t helping his nerves any. As if Cole wasn’t aware of the danger. And that comment about not being the right man for the job? That wasn’t what he needed at the moment. Damn it. As he approached his team’s base camp, he set aside his own worries. Now was the time for confidence. He believed in himself and his team. He knew they were up for the mission. The real concern was t... Chapter nine $$Ch09-Red$$ Just outside the Kanabad base’s Radio Command Centre, hot desert sand swirled around a table that had been set up under an open tent. Dalton Cole stood beside it and lowered his sunglasses to watch two men approach from Command Ops. They were young, dressed in civilian clothes, and too clean to be military. One had dark hair, and other taller man had blonde hair. Both wore dark sunglasses, and both walked with an air of administrative arrogance. Dalton motioned for Tom Harris to come closer. “W... The Red Cross van was at the location as promised; a white Toyota model complete with a white flag bearing the famous red cross and the name, Comite International Geneve. Cole and his men had managed to grab a few hours of sleep before the rendezvous, and were now jammed together inside the van, dressed in civilian clothes and Red Cross vests. The sun had risen high above the southern mountains and heat waves started to appear on the rutted road. It was almost 0900 as they approached the city o... Chapter ten $$Ch10-Red$$ The Black Mambas trekked down the mountain, leaking a thin murmur of complaint. The two Texans were together as usual – the team leader, Master Sergeant Dalton Cole, ruffling his dirty blond hair with the palm of a hand, and Pete Hanley, the counterintelligence guy, smirking from behind his shoulder. The Black Mambas, pride of the American military, the most deadly Special Forces group in existence. All eight of them. The mountains of Dehmar towered above them. Earlier they had seen a lion. The... Chapter eleven $$Ch11-Red$$ “Fuck this,” Grange grinds a half-smoked roll-up under his boot and glares at the team leader. “I vote we eat, talk, plan.” He turns on his heel and covers the ground to the vehicle in six easy strides. The others exchange agreement, allowing the practicalities of Grange’s suggestion to temporarily overrule disbelief and anger. Back at base – a shabby assortment of rooms in a low-budget hotel on the darker side of Annrabur – Boykin puts his limited Dehmari Persian and even more limited charm to use. He thinks the sulky youth at the desk has understood enough to phone through a food order, although given the language barrier, he can’t be sure. Boykin hopes the crumpled notes shoved into the lad’s hand, the dodgy grammatical constructs and the repetition of the Dehmari words for food, here, room, now, the emphasised cert... In the dimly lit lobby, a teetering pile of pizza boxes form a barrier between Boykin and the cramped space behind the desk. The pungent smell of garlic and hot dough draws them in. Behind the stack, the figure at the desk is not the boy Boykin had spoken to before. As they approach, the man who is not that boy raises his head lazily, pushes back the low-brimmed cap from his head, but Boykin and Williams have already stopped, hands automatically on their weapons. “Toolan.” Williams says, gun in ... Boykin kicks on the door, calls out quietly for someone to open it. Hanley pulls it open, surprise momentarily crossing his face before his usual calm façade replaces it. “Saves us lookin’ for him, anyway.” He holds the door wide to expose Toolan to the room. Toolan is ushered into the room by Williams’ gun, the pizza boxes a leaning tower in his hands. Williams and Boykin keep their guns on him, already knowing they won’t be using them yet. Whatever Toolan has become, stupid won’t be on the lis... Chapter twelve $$Ch12-Red$$ Cole stumbled back into the tent. Seeing him so visibly shaken, jaw open, eyes darting round searching for meaning, brought home just how serious this was. Boykin broke the silence. “He’s goadin’ us,” he said. “Like we was a couple few bulls.” “What the fuck?” growled Grange. “First they provoke him with capes, then wound him, gee him all up. Then the matador, he comes in all swagger and show, an’…” Here Boykin clasped one fist in the other, raised his arms and plunged a sword into the shoulders... The sun blazed in an unforgiving blue sky. Hanley noted its position, then began the steep ascent. There’d been no rain for months, and no matter how carefully he tried to place his feet, he kicked up swirls of dust round his boots. Vegetation was sparse. Once he got to the ridge, it would be difficult to remain hidden. They could pick him off the moment the tip of his nose got to the top, he thought, and for a moment he paused, clenching and unclenching his fists, fighting to control his quick... Hanley lay on his stomach, looked through the camera viewfinder, and captured what lay in front of him. The city of Annrabur was a sprawling mass of higgledy-piggledy mud, stone and wooden shacks, some built over others on stilts, all with shallow-pitched roof-tops. There seemed to be no room to move between them, they were so closely huddled together. Yet Hanley knew that there would be streets that wandered in a way that made sense to them, from the food store to the market with its array of f... It was dusk when he got back. He was tired; he was hungry; he had a headache. And how Toolan had stared at him was still needling him, though in his exhaustion he was prepared to put it down to a fevered imagination. How had he got here? One minute he was having his face flushed down the toilets, the next he was winning medals in the boxing ring, the next he was in the Army Cadets. The rest, as they say, is history. Driven to be stronger, faster, more fearless, more invisible than anyone else. ... Chapter thirteen $$Ch13-Red$$ Dawn. Early enough for the sand-swept streets of Annrabur to be mostly empty, but not so early that two Western tourists wandering around its northern district would seem too conspicuous—excepting for the rarity of tourists at all. Williams had an old Leica slung around his neck, and whenever a local was in sight, he would drop to his knee and take a shot of a dusty square, a mosque, a building corner. There was no film in the camera, something he now regretted, as through the viewfinder the red... Planting the first charge was easy. Leaning against one of the buildings they found a wooden pallet on some old hessian sacking. Williams crouched down, pretending to tie his shoe lace, and within a minute of Grange giving him the all clear for pedestrians, the C4 was tucked away between the wall and the pallet, covered by a sack. The location of the second was trickier. A long, narrow alley ran between two of the tall walls between compounds. Williams wanted to place a charge right at its centre. “If anyone sees us, we’re fucked,” protested Grange. “There’s no way out if they cover both entrances.” Williams surveyed the streets. A withered old lady, leaning against a middle-aged man in a baseball cap and jeans, trudged, with great effort, up three steps to the entrance of a house, and then they both disappeared inside. A... Number three was straightforward. Two streets along and parallel to the alley, on a cobblestone street that made Williams think of his wife tipsily tripping over her heels in Pine Bluffs, they found a covered entrance with a boarded-up doorway. They sat on the step, ostensibly and perhaps ostentatiously swigging water from dirty bottles, while Williams prodded the C4 into an out-of-sight nook. Grange was feeling talkative again. “You think Harris is ever going to forgive Cole for being promoted ... “This is a good breach point,” said Williams. “Huh. No shit,” said Grange. They had been standing for some time now staring at one of the outer walls of a courtyard next to a small square, but they didn’t have to worry about passersby wondering what they were doing, because the wall was covered in a huge and colourful mural. To anyone walking or driving past, they were just two tourists admiring the mural. “Well, you wanted colour,” said Williams. “What the fuck does it mean?” pondered Grange. “... Chapter fourteen $$Ch14-Red$$ It was September. There was always a September surprise. The year 2020 was no different. The problem was the surprise was six American military men imprisoned in a fortified compound in an unAmerican city, and their hope was six other American military men huddled in a flimsy tent in the middle of a sweltering desert, maps and memos strewn all over the makeshift war room. “Like a right hand trying to save a right hand,” thought Cole aloud. “That’s called a handshake,” said Harris. “Over the edge... It was almost sunset. The Black Mambas put on their disguise concealing their ammunition and bulletproof vests: green robes and headscarfs counterfeiting the Ghaf-Yohmar’s uniform, as well as beard wigs. They approached the main gate of Annrabur. The few pedestrians still hanging around were male. Only men were free to walk around in public anytime. Dehmari women tended to stay home especially during this time of the day. Hanley, who was skilled in counter-surveillance, entered first. He scouted... Chapter fifteen $$Ch15-Red$$ Cole sat up. The ringing in his ears was familiar, but that didn’t make it any less painful. He did what he always did in these situations, and that was to remember the instructor hauling him out of a water tunnel on the British commando course: “Compose yourself!” Cole did just that. He straightened his neck and pressed his back against the roof of the half-turned VW bus, already growing warm with the flames inside. The flames would reach the fuel tank soon, but that was not his priority. His p... Chapter sixteen $$Ch16-Red$$ I do not like this. I do not understand it. Allah calls for the blood of the infidels, yet we keep them alive — feed them out of the mouths of our own families! How can this be right? Are we truly lions? Or are we sheep? Allah forbid the righteous Ghaf-Yohmar ever should live as sheep. “Avram, Avram,” the Leader tells me, “Allah is patient and his purposes are complex. American blood is sweet like almonds, yes; but to taste blood and victory together, that is the sweetest, like almonds and honey... Chapter seventeen $$Ch17-Red$$ None of them had any idea how long they’d been there anymore, or even if they were still in the same place. It certainly wasn’t the same cell that they’d started in and Cole prayed to a higher power that Harris had worked his magic and got them to where they needed to be. Time had telescoped and shrunk and telescoped again, pain and fear pumping as much as blood through their bodies. Night and day had merged, and a few seconds or hours or days might have passed, disorientation and torture muddyi... The view from the slit window was limited, but it provided all the connection to the outside world they needed with Hanley’s skill set. He was the best counter-surveillance man any of them had ever worked with. He had eyes not just in the back of his head but also in his fingertips and hair follicles. There wasn’t a lock in this shit hole of a desert that he couldn’t pick. Or not so far anyway. Pray to the gods that this remained true today. He had an inbuilt radar that knew the moment when some... “He’s there. I see him. That son of a bitch, he’s good”. For a moment Cole took Hanley’s place at the slit and glimpsed a subdued trio of burka-clad women heading into the building opposite. A casual observer wouldn’t have noticed anything amiss, but for Cole, it was more than obvious that one was Faisal, field medic and Glover’s spotter. Cole chuckled “Oh, yeah. There he goes. I can fucking recognise you guys faster than I recognise my own fucking family, burka, clown suit or fucking whatever.”... Suddenly, there it was. A split second, blink and you’d miss it moment and Boykin was holding the pack. Palpable excitement quietly ricocheted between the men as Boykin held up his hand to indicate Harris was still outside. Shaking his head, he relaxed. “Boy that man can schmooze. He’s got those fuckers out there eating out of his hands. They didn’t notice a damned thing.” He waved the packet, underlining his point. By the window, Hanley signalled. “Faisal’s in position, He’s made contact.” From... Harris had worked hard behind the scenes to get them all together and into this particular cell. He couldn’t stop the beatings and disorientation techniques, but his masterful use of pulling strings and calling in favours combined with his prowess in psychological manipulation techniques meant he could drip-feed signals to ensure it happened. And it helped that Toolan, and by association, him were important to these fucked up maniacs’ plans. They’d have likely ended up here anyway. It was where ... Within moments they were through. Then Williams was working on the outside door, and Hanley reporting that vehicle one was in position and that Faisal had confirmed he’d blow the gate the second they appeared in the courtyard. With superhuman strength, Grange had the injured men on the cart, sacking thrown over the top of them and the weapons and was dragging it to the door even as Williams blew it wide open. They could hear the sounds of chaos and gunshots from the front of the compound and the... Chapter eighteen $$Ch18-Red$$ MSG Toolan sat with his back against the wall, one knee up, trying to get back his breath. His gun slung over his shoulder, hand resting on the barrel ready on high alert. He looked around him at the colourless landscape, his eyes wide, daring not to blink; the now desolate piece of land filled with acrid smoke, plants and shrubbery destroyed by fire still smoking. In the distance he could hear the cracking of gunfire as the realisation kicked in that his old squadron, his new enemy, had made ... Chapter nineteen $$Ch19-Red$$ Toolan stood in the hills, looking at the collection of buildings in the base of the valley. He rubbed the dirt from his eyes and adjusted the heavy jacket, taking a glimpse of the small blood drops on the cuff of his canvas jacket. The heavy laptop and three hard drives inside the brown backpack leaves indentations on his shoulder. He thought, "I must be getting old. A full sack never used to feel this heavy." Toolan continues to walk towards the military base. The sand blows in his eyes and he... In CIA headquarters, SSG Boykin looks around at the room and sees his Black Mamba brothers dressed up to give Toolan an award for his successful mission. SSG Faisal thought, “Maybe Toolan is running late since I don’t see him here.” SFC Harris stands in the corner and slowly sips his coffee and nods in the direction of the president and secret service. The president stands at the podium and says, “We are pleased to present MSG Ryan Toolan with an award for bravery and courage. Toolan deserves th... |