shadows to check the mujahideen's exact position.
The two fighters, obviously standing guard in the area where the hostages were held, stood looking toward the sound of the fighting. They seemed to be discussing whether to remain at their assigned sentry post or go join their brother mujahideen doing battle with the attackers. Brannigan pulled his K-Bar, pointed to himself and then to the man on the right. Next he pointed to Mike and the man on the left. Now Mike pulled his knife as Dave and Frank took the CAR-15s from him and the Skipper to hold while the owners tended to the bloody task ahead.
The two moved slowly toward their quarry, appreciative of the noise from all the shooting some hundred meters away. They stopped a scant two paces from the guards, then Brannigan nodded to order the attack. Both SEALs struck simultaneously with the viciousness of cobras, driving the blades of their weapons under the back of rib cages and up into the vital areas where organs and arteries were located. The knives were violently twisted to enlarge the wounds. Brannigan and Mike kept their hands over the victims' mouths, working the knives until the mujahideen went limp. At that point the dead men were lowered gently to the ground to avoid unnecessary noise.
'Shit!' Mike whispered. 'The son of a bitch vomited.'
'It's a messy job no matter which way you cut it,' Brannigan said. 'No pun intended.'
They resheathed the K-Bars, retrieved their weapons from Dave and Frank, then went to the first container. This was the one Senior Chief Buford Dawkins had reported as the one where two prisoners were being kept. Brannigan noted that there was no lock on the door; only a handle that slid through an eyelet to hold it shut. He pulled the lever on the handle and pushed the device to the side. The door cracked a bit, and he had to pull it the rest of the way open.
Two frightened young men looked up at him. The wide-eyed and openmouthed expressions on their faces made them appear weird in the night vision goggles. They cringed as if expecting to be shot.
Brannigan spoke quickly. 'Do you speak English?' 'Yes,' one said, puzzled. 'We are speaking English. Who are you?'
'I'm the guy that's going to get you the hell out of here:' Brannigan said, noting the overflowing bucket used for a night toilet. 'Follow me out of this place.'
'Oh, yes, sir,' one said. 'We are thanking you so very much.'
'You are a nice man,' the other added.
'Right,' Brannigan said. 'Now listen carefully. You can't see, but we're wearing night vision goggles. Do you understand? We can see perfectly in the dark.'
'We are understanding what it is you are telling us,' the first said.
'When we get outside, I'm going to have each of you grab the belt of one of my men to hold on to for guidance. We'll move rapidly as possible, but don't worry about bumping into anything. We'll be as careful as we can. We'll be going to a wall. We'll help you over, and then join the rest of my command. Now listen up! You must be quiet. Don't make any noise. Don't say a thing. Not a word!'
'We are being quiet like little mouses,' the second man promised.
Brannigan took them outside, handing one over to Frank and the other to Dave. Thus, prepared, they moved back through the vehicle park toward the wall.
.
SECOND SQUAD
0115 HOURS LOCAL
THE fighting on the southeast wall built up in intensity as more mujahideen joined their brothers-in-arms at the position. The tower at that corner of the fortification became unpopular with the warlord's men since the SEALs kept a steady fire on it whenever someone had the temerity to climb up in it to shoot down at them. The flares fired up by the defenders made them bolder than they should have been. Within short minutes, a total of eight dead men lay almost one on top of the other in the tower. By that time, none of the other mujahideen had any intention of occupying the place. They all stayed along the wall, firing from parapets built into the structure.
Bruno Puglisi and Joe Miskoski had to go through a vital learning process with the mortar, firing several rounds before they got the hang of the little support weapon. They were extremely inaccurate with the first three shots, but the resultant shell strikes scared the hell out of the mujahideen. But it wasn't long before the two impromptu mortarmen had the elevation and traverse down, and had found the range for the wall itself.
Joe slid a shell down the tube. As soon as it was positioned, Puglisi pulled the trigger. It responded with an 'oomph' sound as it fired, and the intrepid mortar gunners made a count of 'hut-thousand, two-thousand, three- thousand' until reaching 'six-thousand.' At that moment the shell fell on the wall, blowing chunks of mud and pieces of mujahideen straight up into the air. This strike was immediately followed by three more.
The defenders expected an all-out assault from a large number of attackers now that their wall was breached. They prepared themselves by quickly occupying positions where they could cover the ragged opening when the expected horde of infidels charged through it.
But Cruiser's Second Squad stayed put, throwing out short bursts of automatic fire. One of the senior mujahideen, feeling the power of Allah surging through his soul, organized a half dozen others into a small attacking force with wild screams of religious urgings to follow him. He led the small group through the wall and out into the open country. None of them made more than three steps before the combined fire of six CAR-15s cut them down.
Now Puglisi and Joe began to pace their barrages to make their supply of shells last as long as possible.
ALPHA FIRE TEAM
WHILE the Second Squad kept that part of the wall pinned down, Brannigan and his Alpha Team were on the opposite side of the compound, struggling to get the two hostages over the top of the earthen barrier.
Neither one was in particularly good physical condition, and the poor diet they had been receiving in the warlord's crude jail had not helped either. One was pudgy, with little athletic ability, and the other was skinny with a minimum of physical strength. When they reached the wall, Dave Leibowitz boosted his buddy Mike Assad up to the top. When Mike was positioned, he reached down, taking the hand of the pudgy hostage as he was pushed upward toward him. He pulled the guy hard, getting him astride the wall.
'Stay here,' Mike ordered. He looked down at Dave. 'Next!'
The skinny guy was quickly pulled up and positioned next to his buddy. Next the Skipper and Frank Gomez were hefted up. Both Frank and Brannigan reached down and grabbed Dave's wrists to haul him to the top. The SEALs leaped down to the opposite side of the wall, then turned and helped their charges to lower themselves to the ground.
With all the Alphas and the two hostages out of the fort, the group moved across the open ground to link up with the rest of the First Squad.
'How'd it go?' Senior Chief Buford Dawkins asked as they joined the others. 'They was two of 'em, huh?'
'Right, Senior Chief,' Mike answered. 'They wouldn't be classified One-A by their local draft board so we'll have to make allowances for them while we haul ass the hell out of here.'
The sound of the fighting to the southeast rose and fell, showing that the battle was still going at full speed. 'Let's go, people!' Brannigan ordered. 'Form a squad column with our guests in the middle. Move out!'
The small group headed southward to the scheduled rendezvous with Second Squad.
.
SECOND SQUAD
0145 HOURS LOCAL
Lieutenant Jim Cruiser checked his watch. It was now time to go into the fire-and-maneuver withdrawal phase to break contact with the mujahideen. 'Puglisi! Miskoski!' he said over the LASH. 'Make a final barrage. Six rounds.'
'Aye, sir:' Bruno Puglisi replied.
Joe Miskoski inserted the first shell into the tube, then Puglisi pulled the trigger. This was repeated five more times as the rest of the squad lay down heavy fire on the mujahideen behind the rubble of the wall. When the final mortar round was launched, Puglisi folded up the weapon and slung it over his shoulder, wincing at the feel of the hot tube through his BDU. Joe grabbed the haversack with the three remaining rounds.
'Charlie Fire Team!' Cruiser said. 'Continue to fire! Delta Fire Team, withdraw!'
Joe joined his Charlie mates, adding his CAR-15 to the fusillades. Puglisi fell in with the Deltas now rushing rearward. They went some fifteen meters before turning and dropping to the ground. As soon as they began firing,
