Musical Inspiration
Campbell Barracks, Australia, 3/31/2012, 22:33
“Take your seats,” said the captain as he entered the 4th Squadron briefing room. As the team settled back into their seats, he strode to the head of the table, standing to the side as the briefing maps came up on the video wall. “We have a devolving situation in New Guinea. A little over two hours ago, Ambassador Rogers’ daughter, Karen, was taken from their vacation cottage outside Mt. Hagan. The materials on the young lady are in your packets,” nodding to Sergeant Guidry to hand them out. “Apparently, there’s a much more ambitious rebel group on the island than previously suspected. Sophia Rogers was at the cottage, her mother and the single security team member were out shopping. The attackers killed the cook before taking the teenager. We assume for ransom demands of some sort, although we haven’t received any as of yet. There’s limited video surveillance in this community, but we have located a general area where we believe that the attackers have initially taken the child. Surprisingly, or stupidly, they have kept her phone for communications. I suppose they think keeping it turned off means we can’t track it, but obviously it’s not just a normal device.”
“You can read more on the attackers en route. Fortunately, Captain Hayford and a two-man team from his commando were on the island already, and will meet you near the property in which we believe the terrorists have stashed the young lady. Unfortunately, they were there for other reasons, and are only lightly armed. Staff Sergeant Anderson, while your team doesn’t have the duty this week, given the highly mountainous terrain, and the need to jump in such dangerous terrain you have been selected. You will each carry additional gear for Hayford and his men. Hayford will have overall command once you arrive.”
“There isn’t any real air support for this operation, other than the jump craft. The prime minister wants no attention brought to this abduction. There is a double flight of Blackhawks that are being diverted, but they were on a training mission. By the time they return to base, refuel, and, assuming additional in-air refueling is successful, they will arrive on-station about six hours after you. At best, they will probably only be available for extraction of the victims or medevac.”
“Any questions, Brett?” asked the captain. “No? Then Godspeed. Get this little girl back.”
SASR Transport Flight 936 (Code Name Mother Goose) 04/01/2012 – 0214
“Staff Sergeant, the major would like a word please,” the jumpmaster said, handing him the headset.
“Anderson here, ma’am.”
“Staff Sergeant, we are thirty minutes out and weather conditions are deteriorating quickly over the jump zone. The typhoon to the southeast is picking up steam, and while it’s going to miss 100 miles to the northeast, the winds and rain are significant. There will be less than 100 feet visibility in the landing zone. I am recommending a diversion to the local airport. It will be short but we can land, barely. But it’s your jump.”
“One moment, please, major.” Brett pulled out his maps. “James, check my time. Secondary route from Mt. Hagan international to target area?
“Road transport in optimum conditions, thirty-five mikes, but intel suggests that road is blocked during major storms due to washouts and mudslides. Easily watched too, Brett. Probably eight hours on foot given the terrain, and that’s without the storm. It essentially is a one lane track up the side of the bloody mountain.”
The Staff Sergeant looked at his team. One by one, they all silently agreed. He frowned as he put the headset back on. “Major, we will go with the jump.”
“Understood, Staff Sergeant. Good luck!”
“Who Dares Wins, ma’am,” came the quiet reply.
The pilot looked at her co-pilot and shook her head.
SASR Transport Flight 936 (Mother Goose) 04/01/2012 – 0234
“Dragon Base, this is Mother Goose flight. Commencing run. Conditions danger black. Cloud Fall team preparing for deployment. No communication established Iron Skull. Unknown ground conditions. Acknowledge.”
“Acknowledged, Mother Goose. Operation at discretion of Cloud Fall actual. Good luck.”
20 miles Outside Mount Hagan, Papua New Guinea (Team Cloud Fall) – 04/01/2012 0333
Staff Sergeant Brett Anderson looked at Sergeant Amelia Taylor, who shook her head. “It’s a compound fracture with a least two other breaks. It’s completely fucked Brett,” as she injected Sergeant James Martin with a painkiller. “I’ll have to stay with him,” she continued. “With the cold, the rain; the danger of shock is too bloody great to leave him by himself.
“Wilson, Brown – move James over there under that overhang. Everyone, leave your emergency blankets here for Amelia to use. Kelly, grab James’s sniper rifle. Amelia, give me your medical kit, at least what you don’t need for James. Move out in 5 minutes.”
“Iron Skull, Iron Skull, this is Cloud Fall, acknowledge.” The communications expert repeated the call every thirty seconds. “Still no response, Staff Sergeant,” said Corporal Lucas Brown a few minutes later.
“Then let’s go. With this fucking mess, we will be at least two hours behind.”
Mount Anda Vacation Villa, 45 miles east of Mount Hagan, (Team Cloud Fall) 04/01/2012 0658
The first hints of light were creeping through the grey clouds. Rain, and more rain, came down in sheets out of the skies, lessening visibility to almost nothing. The staff sergeant and three remaining team members peered through the rain, but even with the enhanced night vision goggles, only managed to turn the pouring rain into a weird shimmering force of green.
“Lucas, try one more time,” ordered the team commander.
“Iron Skull, Iron Skull, this is Cloud Fall, acknowledge.” A few moments later, Brown repeated the request.
“Still no response, staff sergeant. We have comms back to Sergeant Taylor, so I know we are broadcasting.”
“Bloody wonderful. Well, I have no idea if they are here or not, or what happened to them. We will have to clear this compound on our own. According to the data, four cabin retreats and a central kitchen/dining area for vacationers. Supposedly closed for the rainy season, except for the owner. Based on what we have seen, there is a maintenance truck down there, and a cargo van. No heat signatures or visual movement in this rain. So, here is what we are going to do. Lucas, stay with Ryan, spot for him and keep trying to raise the captain or his team. Tommy, you’re with me. We are going to sweep the cabins first, then the main building last. Silently if possible. Ryan, you have permission to take the shot if necessary, but if you can guide us instead, let’s see how far we can get without waking up the neighbors. Any questions? No, then let’s go.”
Fifteen minutes later the duo were near the southern most cabin. They stepped quickly through the unlocked door. The small cabin held two single beds, one of which contained what appeared to be a single sleeper passed out face down on top of the bedding. The stench, however, indicated otherwise. With a nod of his head, Corporal Wilson ducked into the small bath, murmuring “clear” a moment later. Brett moved to the body on the bed, lifting up the head, which, since it was nearly completely severed at the neck, didn’t result in movement from the body. The blood had pooled into the bedding, but the carpet still squelched from the impact of the combat boots. The AK-47 propped against the wall hinted at the victim’s identity.
Anderson moved to the curtains of the side window facing the rest of the cabins. The rain continued to pour down, but the visibility was slightly better with the growing light of the morning. He took the goggles off and squinted at a pile of wet clothing in the distance.
He murmured into his tactical mic, “Cloud 4, Cloud Actual. I got one body, plus maybe at least five more in the garden area. Moving to the second building.”
He motioned to Wilson, and they moved like ghosts back into the pouring rain.
Mount Anda Vacation Villa, 45 miles east of Mount Hagan (Team Cloud Fall), 04/01/2012 – 0715
The next two cabins each held a couple of additional kidnappers, although the two special operators stayed away from the garden paths. As they neared the door of the fourth cabin, wet coughing erupted from inside. They paused, listening intently, and after another two minutes, another burst of hacking sounded from within.
They burst in again, with guns raised, and discovered a charnel house. Arterial sprays everywhere, blood all over the floor, five bodies in various stages of death across the slightly larger room. All dead for at least a couple hours. As they paused, they could hear very ragged breathing from within the bathroom. As Wilson ducked in, he murmured, “Shit, it’s Jamison, Staff Sergeant. He’s seriously wounded.”
“Stand watch, Thomas,” ordered Brett as he knelt next to Private Jamison. “Bassell, can you hear me?” asked the staff sergeant as he opened the soldier’s civilian shirt. “Bloody hell,” he muttered. “Bassell, it’s going to be alright, mate. We got you now.” He injected pain killers and a broad spectrum antibiotic into the thigh, knowing it was probably a lost cause. There was blood pooled all over the tiled floor. He packed the wounds as well as could be done at the moment. Knowing the probable end result, he injected the wounded soldier with a mild dose of adrenaline. “Bassell, this is Staff Sergeant Anderson, report,” he ordered quietly, but firmly.
A bloody wracking cough racked through the private’s body. An even bloodier hand reached towards the staff sergeants’ face. “Staff Sergeant? I can’t see you . . . are we back at the LZ? It’s so cold and I am soaked….
“It will be fine, son, it will be fine,” he paused, you just have some blood in your eyes and it’s been raining . . . tell me what happened. Medevac is on the way.”
“Captain Hayford couldn’t raise you on the comms, or base ops. We had heard screaming and crying, and the kidnappers were obviously arguing with each other.” He paused as more bloody coughs erupted from his battered body. “He decided we couldn’t wait, even though there were at least fifteen of the bastards. We got seven before they saw us in the garden. That’s when Smythe got shot. We cleared out the final cabin, but one of the fuckers got me, staff sergeant.” More hacking coughs and bloody phlegm erupted from his lips.
“I am so cold Staff…did the Captain save the girl? She was screaming so much……Such a pretty young girl…..he was going after……” and the private passed out again.
“Wilson, get over here. He’s fucking bleeding out. Give me that IV from the bag, and the bag of O-negative. It’s probably a waste of bloody time but we are going to try.” He started the IV and the blood transfer, one in each arm. “Thomas, stay here and keep these elevated, grab those blankets and lay them over him up too.”
Murmuring into his tactical mic again, “Cloud Fall, Cloud Actual. One confirmed down from Iron Skull, one wounded recovered. Thirteen targets neutralized. Main building target remains. Cloud Fall 4 file, in ten mikes converge on main target if no response from Cloud Actual or Iron Skull. Cloud 6 will remain with Iron Skull 3 for treatment. Maintain radio blackout for ten mikes.”
Thirty seconds later, the ghost of the clouds had merged into the fog and rain. In his circuit of the main building, he counted seven more bodies, plus one more commando. Silence still reigned throughout the bloody vacation village.
Off the coast of Papua New Guinea, (Peregrine Flight) 04/01/2012 – 0719
“Cloud Fall, Cloud Fall, this is Peregrine Flight, feet dry in 10 mikes. Acknowledge. Iron Skull, Iron Skull, this is Peregrine Flight, feet dry in 10 mikes. Acknowledge.”
“Still no response, Flight Lieutenant.”
“Inform Dragon Base, Gunner. We will proceed on mission until ordered otherwise.”
“Yes, ma’am..”
“Peregrine Two, Peregrine One, we will proceed on mission. Confirm fuel status.”
“Peregrine One, Peregrine Two, one hundred twenty-three minutes fuel available before warning state.”
“Acknowledged Peregrine Two. Target area is forty-seven minutes inland. You will spend 23 minutes on station before departing for in-flight refueling if available.”
“Acknowledged, Peregrine Two.”
The co-pilot of Peregrine One looked at his pilot. “Ma’am, what are we going to do? We only have 15 more minutes of fuel than Peregrine Two.”
His commander looked into the cloud filled sky, “We will remain on station until we know there is no one to pick up or we perform the pick-up,” replied Flight Lieutenant Bridgette Anderson.
Mount Anda Vacation Villa, 45 miles east of Mount Hagan (Team Cloud Fall) 04/01/2012 – 0721
Brett slowly opened the main door, pausing to listen. Barely audible noises seemed to come from deep in the kitchen. He ducked through the main door, rolling into the corner before popping up, fully expecting to take fire. However, no movement or noise greeted his action. The low light augmentation showed one body spread eagle on the dining table, blood dripping slowly on the floor beneath.
He moved toward the swinging doors that should open into the kitchen. He listened intently, picking up murmured conversation, very faint, but definitely there. He slung his assault carbine, drawing a pistol with his left hand. He pushed very lightly on the right hand door, opening it just a crack to get a glimpse into the kitchen. The murmured conversation continued, but the sound reflected oddly, like it wasn’t directly in the kitchen. He moved in, glancing at the chef’s carving station. It had definitely been used to carve. He wasn’t sure if it was the chef who had been carved or not, but the woman was never going to care again.
The staff sergeant paused again, trying to place the sound of the murmuring. There was a door that led deeper into the building, and what could be a pantry to the left. There was also a walk-in freezer to the right. He glided to each door, listening intently. Finally, satisfied, he pulled off his night vision goggles, slid them around his neck, grasped the freezer door handle and yanked it open.
As the freezer opened, he started to pull the trigger, but paused, surveying the scene. A man stood in front of an occupied chair, standing in a pool of congealed blood. He was obviously talking to the occupant, and he held a standard issue combat knife in his hand, “Who is the next target? You know you are going to tell me sooner or later, so you might as well answer me and save yourself additional pain.” The prisoner did not answer, but Brett recognized the voice.
After a moment, the man started to ask the question again, even though he had to have heard the freezer door open. Brett stepped through the portal, “Captain? It’s Anderson, sir. Have you found the ambassador’s daughter? Where is she? Are you injured sir?” he asked as he noticed the main’s blood soaked sleeve.
The main turned, and Staff Sergeant Brett Anderson, who had seen some of the worst humanity had to offer, paled. Captain Bresnick Hayford, stood before him, blood covering his entire shirt. The worst part of the vision, though was not the captain, but the bloody, battered body sitting strapped to the chair. The face really wasn’t recognizable as a face any longer, and blood and fluids had congealed along most every part of the naked body. From the size of the body though, and the very obvious long, although blood soaked, blond hair, Brett knew he was looking at the now dead body of Karen Rogers, fourteen-year old daughter of the Australian ambassador to China.
“Ah, Staff Sergeant, I am glad your team was able to make it,” Captain Hayford said, ignoring the look of shock on Brett’s face. “We had lost contact with command and were unsure if the weather would allow you to join us. So we decided to attack before the opportunity was lost. We were able to take the terrorists by surprise, but one of bastards got Smythe, and Jamison took a couple of wounds in one of the cabins. If you could be so kind as to have your medic see to him, I will continue to question the prisoner here.”
“Prisoner sir? Which prisoner?” asked the stunned staff sergeant. “Do you have one of the captives in another room, Captain?” Staff Sergeant Brett Anderson, VC, DSM asked the question in a pleading voice.
“No, of course not, Anderson. Are you blind? Do you know see the prisoner here? One of the terrorists was somehow able to change her shape, she’s a virtual doppelganger to that poor child that was kidnapped. I am still trying to ascertain Karen’s new location. Also, to determine what other targets they might have. I have no idea how they can change their appearance like this, but it is obviously a major threat to security so we need to keep questioning the scheming bitch, even if it kills her.”
“Doppelganger, sir?” Brett asked, now realizing that the captain was completely fucking bat-shit insane. “I have some medical training sir, perhaps, I can check her to make sure she will withstand your interrogation.”
“Excellent idea, staff sergeant. Do come over here and see what you can do to assist.”
The staff sergeant approached, shifting the grip on his Browning. As he neared the captain, who had started to turn back to the girl, Brett struck, pistol whipping the psychopathic officer into unconsciousness. He then turned to the girl, but there was no action to take. She had been dead for at least an hour. He didn’t really want to look at the wounds and fluids too closely, but it was more than obvious to him that she had died hard, and that the knife was not the only thing the captain or her earlier captives had used on her.
After a couple of minutes, he tied the captain up, and pumped him full of sedatives, not really caring if it was too many.
He took a deep breath and then spoke into his tac comm. “Cloud Fall, Cloud Fall Actual. Cloud 4, bring your file to the main building. Setup over-watch towards the road. Cloud 5, go to the northeastern cabin, help Cloud 6. Bring Iron Skull 3 to the dining room of the main building. Then recover Iron Skull 2’s body. Do NOT make entry into the kitchen. When that is complete, Cloud 5 and 6, take that cargo van and go retrieve Cloud 2 and 3.” Not once did his voice reflect the tears that were streaming down his cheeks.
Mount Anda Vacation Villa, 45 miles east of Mount Hagan (Team Cloud Fall) 04/012012, 0835
“Dragon Base, this is Cloud Fall Actual. Acknowledge.”
“Cloud Fall, Dragon Base, go.”
“Request Medevac at target site. Iron Skull Team, 2 KIA, 1 WIA. Cloud Fall, 1 WIA. Target located, KIA, recovered. Location requires cleansing fire. Condition report upon RTB.
“Cloud Fall, Peregrine Flight inbound. IFR required upon recovery. Acknowledge.”
“Acknowledged.”
The rain had slackened some by the time the choppers got there. More of a heavy sleet by then, but still going to make certain efforts difficult. Brett watched, silently as they both flared in for landing. With stretchers made from bedding materials, the team loaded the bodies of Smythe and Jamison onto Peregrine Two, before loading the injured Martin and the unconscious Hayford on Peregrine One. They then carried a much smaller, much lighter, body bag onto the same helicopter. Anderson and Taylor boarded the same helo as the wounded, and the others hopped onto the second helicopter with their fallen comrades. As the choppers took off into the rain, Brett clicked the device in his hand, and the Mount Anda Vacation Villas blew up into shattered splinters of wood and burning bodies.
Campbell Barracks, Australia, 04/04/2012, 1100 (SASR 4th Squadron HQ)
It had taken nearly twelve hours for the return trip. The inflight refueling on the outer edges of a bloody typhoon had not been fun at all, and it was touch and go whether Peregrine Two was going to get it done. On arrival at the nearest Australian base, he had kept everyone isolated from the naval coastal patrol base in Cairns, waiting for the C-130 to come get them, and he had kept Hayford sedated the whole fucking time. No one knew what the hell had exactly happened, and Brett wasn’t in the mood to share, and they knew better than to ask.
But now, his report sat on Captain Shepherd’s desk. He had told the captain and colonel, of course, verbally, upon their return.
The captain whistled softly through his teeth, a weird habit Brett knew did not bode well. He started to say something a couple of different times, then whistled instead. Finally, shaking his head, he looked up. “Brett, I know you know this, but I have to say it. Hayford denies everything. Says that he had tried to free the girl, that the kidnappers had tortured the poor child before he could get to her. That they had surprised him and knocked him out. Said he was thankful your team showed up in time to save him, but could only assume that you staged the photographs because of the prior incident in the Solomon Islands.”
The captain waited for Brett to respond, but Brett just sat patiently, waiting for what he knew was to come.
“So, do you want to change anything about your report?” Captain Shepherd asked.
“No, sir. I have never falsified one before, I am not about to protect that psychopath,” replied Brett. “Although I should have shot the bastard then, and I knew it, but I didn’t.”
“Please don’t say that again, Staff Sergeant,” commanded the captain.
“Yes, sir, understood sir.”
“So, everything is officially classified Eyes Only, Condor Black. You won’t talk to anyone, including your team, about what actually happened. The official story is that the terrorists fought with each over what to do. They killed the ambassador’s daughter as a statement against Australian intervention in Timor, then blew up the vacation villa with the caretaker to cover their tracks. We were never there. Captain Hayford is being transferred to one of the medical facilities for evaluation of his “wounds.” Since you were never there, this report doesn’t exist. Is that understood?”
A bitter, disgusted look came across the staff sergeant’s face as he stood, and said, “Understood, sir.”
“I know it doesn’t mean much, Brett, but I do understand, and I am sorry.”
Brett just stood there at attention, refusing to say anything, because he knew, that if he did, he might not stop. His captain just looked at him, knowingly, and said, “You are dismissed. You and your team have one week leave, ordered by the colonel. Go get drunk, go get laid, visit your family, do NOT think about this mission.”
Brett saluted, spun on his heel and stalked out of building.
Last Dreams 