burial process for their buddy. Brannigan sighed, then got back to the business at hand. 'Did anybody note an insignia of any kind on those choppers?'
'No, sir,' Cruiser replied. 'Too bad we didn't know the enemy had aerial attack capabilities.'
'Yeah,' Brannigan said. 'At any rate, we're cut off. We got no anti-aircraft weapons, but I guess nobody thought it would be necessary. We've also lost our long-range commo. There's an unknown enemy facing us and you can bet your asses that the sons of bitches are going to want to take this mountain.'
Senior Chief Petty Officer Buford Dawkins jerked his thumb toward the supply dump. 'At least we got lots of ammo, sir, even if none of it is AA. It's more'n enough to knock down a whole bunch of jihad jerks.'
'It may or may not be that easy, Senior Chief,' Brannigan said. 'Right now it appears we're caught dead in the middle of one of those battle-of-attrition scenarios. And if they have more men than we have bullets, we'll have a real load to carry around here.' He turned and looked out over the terrain. 'Get back to your units and do like they say in the Bible. Gird your loins for battle.' He nodded to Cruiser. 'We'll want to say a few words over Petty Officer Clifford. Let me know when you're ready for the services.'
'Aye, sir,' Cruiser said.
The 2IC and the chiefs headed over to their squads and teams.
.
WARLORD DURTAMI'S FORMER COMPOUND
NOON LOCAL
THE trio of Mi-24s came in and landed in an echelon right formation. As soon as they touched down, the troop compartment doors opened and twelve fully armed mujahideen fighters quickly exited each aircraft. As soon as all were off to one side, the choppers took off, once more turning toward the fiefdom of Warlord Hassan Khamami.
Although the thirty-six men wore the traditional Afghanistan puhtee caps, the rest of their uniforms were modern military. This was brand-new Russian Federation kamuflirovani kurtki pattern camouflage garb as was issued to the Federation's Border Guard outfits. The men also had their features streaked with black and green face paint, and they sported AK-47 assault rifles with plenty of bandoleers of ammunition.
The leader of this group was Warlord Khamami's senior field commander, Major Karim Malari. He was a graduate of the Soviet Army's Infantry Academy and had taken other military training courses in the USSR. The officer had not been home for very long before he defected from the Democratic Afghanistan Army to join the mujahideen to fight the foreign invaders from the Soviet Union.
Now he took the handset of the R-108 tactical radio from his commo man and raised the station back in Al- Saraya Castle. 'This is Field Command,' he said into the mike. 'First three helicopters are on the ground and all troops deplaned. The aircraft are on their way back to pick up the next lift. Out.'
One of the sub-unit leaders joined him just as the major handed the handset back. The lieutenant saluted. 'My men are ready to move out, Major Malari.'
'Excellent,' Malari said, glancing over at what was left of Durtami's compound. 'Those infidels seem to enjoy a good fight. Look what they did to Durtami's old home.'
The lieutenant smiled confidently. 'I think the unbelievers have a big surprise in store for them. We're not a bunch of country bumpkins they can push around.'
'I agree,' Malari said. 'They're confidence is going to be badly shaken when they discover they're facing the disciplined, well-trained troops of Amir Khamami.' He checked his watch. 'Alright, Lieutenant. Move your men out. Stay out of sight and take a good look at the terrain features leading up to the infidels' position. We'll run a night reconnaissance patrol after dark. I want everything ready by the time the rest of the command is here.'
'Yes, sir!'
The young officer hurried over to lead his men up on East Ridge, where they could put the target area under observation.
.
WEST RIDGE CP
1500 HOURS LOCAL
LIEUTENANT Wild Bill Brannigan sat in the OP with Mike Assad and Dave Leibowitz watching the helicopters coming in from the north, then disappearing behind East Ridge to land. So far they had counted ten flights of three choppers each for the past three hours.
Brannigan took the binoculars from his eyes. 'They must be setting down at the warlord's compound over there.'
'That's something SOCOM didn't figure on,' Mike remarked.
'Yeah,' Dave said. 'It really torques my jaw that nobody knew these ragheads had choppers.'
'That helicopter model is more than just a gunship, y'know,' Mike said. 'They're troop carriers too.'
'Yeah,' Brannigan agreed. 'If I remember correctly, those are Mi-24s and can carry about eight troops each. That means a total of two hundred and forty men have been brought in.'
'There's probably more than that, sir,' Dave pointed out. 'Have you ever seen how many of those people can crowd into one of those motor-rickshaws? I'll bet they have at least twelve guys crammed into each of those troop compartments.'
'Mmm,' Brannigan mused. 'That would mean three hundred and sixty or so of them.'
'And I don't think they've finished yet,' Mike commented.
'We're gonna be outnumbered big time,' Dave said. He shrugged. 'At least we have plenty of ammo. We can mow those shrieking mujahideen down in rows if we have to.'
'More food for the buzzards down on the slope,' Mike said. 'Those birds have been on triple rations since we got here:'
'All this reminds me of an uncle of mine,' Brannigan said. 'He was an infantryman in the Army during the Korean War. He used to talk about human wave attacks made by the Red Chinese. He was a gunner on a Browning light machine gun. He said he'd burn out barrel after barrel hosing fire bursts into those crazy bastards. Now I know how he felt.'
'What are our tactical choices, sir?' Dave asked.
'Well,' Brannigan said thoughtfully, 'we can stay up here and hold out as long as we can. Maybe when somebody back at SOCOM notices our radio silence, they'll send out an aircraft to investigate.'
'That's what those PRC-112s are good for,' Mike said. 'They can home in on the beacons.'
'What if they're a little slow in reacting to our predicament?' Dave wondered aloud.
'Then we'll have to make what is known as a strategic withdrawal,' Brannigan said. 'That means sneaking out of here under the cover of darkness, hoping we can make it through a strong enemy force that has us surrounded.'
'What about Adam Clifford?' Mike asked.
'We always bring our dead and wounded out,' Brannigan said. 'But we're not keeping one foot in the water like we used to. We'll have to note the burial site and come back for him.'
'Or have someone else do the job,' Dave commented. 'Damn shame,' Mike said glumly.
The three fell into silence as the noise of helicopters ascending into the sky suddenly came from the other side of East Ridge. Within moments all three choppers rose into view over the mountain, turning north.
'Well, there they go again,' Mike said, 'to pick up another twenty or thirty assholes for us to shoot at.'
'And to fire back at us,' Dave pointed out.
.
26 AUGUST
0230 HOURS LOCAL
THE platoon was on 50 percent alert, and Chad Murchison and Bruno Puglisi had been assigned to the OP for the mid-watch. Bruno was asleep while Chad took his turn keeping an eye on things. The night vision device gave him the usual eerie green-white environment to gaze into, and he studied the terrain in front of him with an intensity brought on by the heavy helicopter activity the day before. It was a sure sign that the local situation was going to liven up quite a bit.
Chad had been able to get up a bit higher since it was dark, and he had an excellent view of the boulders and
