have told you? Der khey--very good! I will give you orders by radio to let you know what to do and when to do it. Any questions, Major? Excellent.'
He handed the handset back to the radio operator.
'Will you want to contact anybody else, Amir?' the man asked.
Khamami shook his head. 'Na. But fetch me Sheriwal and the other helicopter pilot. Os! Now!'
.
WADI KHESTA VALLEY
0930 HOURS LOCAL
LIEUTENANT Bill Brannigan called a halt. The men were dragging their feet now, thirsty and sweat-soaked from the heat. He knew they hadn't much more than a few ounces of water in their canteens. This was a worst- case scenario when it came to heatstroke. Even an adult male in the pink of condition would crumble fast when he became dehydrated, with his body temperature soaring while he was unable to perspire. Brannigan hoped a half hour in the shade of the valley sides would cool them down enough to continue the tortuous hike.
Mike Assad and Dave Leibowitz joined the platoon commander. They sank down wearily beside him. Mike licked his dry lips before he spoke. 'Any special orders, sir?'
'Yeah,' Brannigan said. 'Find some fucking water!'
Neither of the Odd Couple bothered to make a reply. That's all they'd been thinking of as they moved forward on the point. But the valley was as dry as the proverbial bone.
Senior Chief Buford Dawkins walked up slowly and stood silently beside the trio for a few moments. Finally he asked the same thing the Odd Couple had inquired about. 'Any special orders, sir?'
'Put out the word,' Brannigan said. 'We've got no choice now but to avoid any further contact with the enemy.'
Dawkins shrugged. 'I don't know how the hell we're gonna do that, sir. We're gonna run into 'em sooner or later.'
'Well, then, godamn it, Senior Chief, if we do make contact we're going to have to take some pretty fucking drastic steps, aren't we?'
Dawkins nodded, ignoring the Skipper's angry sarcasm. 'I'll pass the word, sir.'
Brannigan watched him walk away to inform the fire teams. He pulled out his canteen, then stuck it back in its carrier without taking so much as sip. 'When you find yourself down deep in a shit hole, you got to stop digging.'
The Odd Couple looked at their commanding officer, then each other. Mike yawned. 'I think I'll take a nap:'
'Good idea, Assad,' Brannigan said. 'I'll call you in about two minutes.'
'Thank you, sir,' Mike said. 'Being surrounded and outnumbered by a vicious enemy, thirsty as hell and as hungry as a starving bear is a great inducement to sleep.'
'Y'know,' Dave mused, 'compared to this, Hell Week wasn't really all that bad, was it?'
Mike was already snoring quietly in his slumber.
Chapter 18
THE FOOTHILLS WEST OF WADI KHESTA VALLEY
30 AUGUST
1400 HOURS LOCAL
CAPTAIN Lakhdar Tanizai's two-company force was slightly under strength at 150 men, but he had been more than adequately augmented with the addition of three Soviet 82-millimeter mortars and plenty of shells. At that moment his mujahideen struggled through the afternoon heat on a forced march of twenty-five kilometers. They were close to exhaustion from fatigue and exposure to the sun as they hiked across the open country above and alongside the Wadi Khesta Valley. It could have been worse, but the movement was being made with minimum equipment of nothing more than personal weapons, a basic field ammunition load and canteens of water. The rest of their gear had been flown ahead by helicopter to the location where they were to set up a defensive position that would block the far end of the valley. This was their portion of the operation Warlord Khamami had devised to hem in the infidel invaders.
Tanizai walked at the head of the column, doing his best to set a good example for his fighters in the demanding situation. The officer was a firm believer in maintaining excellent physical conditioning, and he personally supervised an exercise regimen that he had designed for his men.
Now he kept up a steady, confident pace, forcing himself to endure the fatigue with no sign of discomfort. The captain finally allowed himself to relax a bit when he sighted two figures up ahead through the haze of heat that shimmered off the terrain. He increased the pace, impatient to reach the scouts Abdullah and Ashraf, who had been waiting for them.
Ashraf, always the spokesman for the duo, performed a Russian-style salute when Tanizai walked up to him. 'Greetings, Captain. It is only another kilometer to where the equipment awaits you.'
'Thanks to Allah!' Tanizai said in relief. He turned toward the column, shouting as loudly as he could. 'Your packs and rations are just ahead. Step lively!'
The word was passed down the line, and the mujahideen happily put forth some extra effort to hurry forward to the place where they could regain possession of their gear. The company formation began to spread out as they stepped up the rate of march in their excitement. The sub-leaders immediately regained control of their men, keeping them in good order as they neared the final destination of the speed march.
When they reached the temporary supply dump, each platoon was brought to a halt, then ordered to dress right and cover down as if on parade. Under the philosophy of discipline established by Warlord Hassan Khamami, there would be no disorderly stampede to retrieve the gear. As soon as they were under tight control, one group at a time was marched in an orderly fashion to retrieve the equipment, then return to their platoon to await the next order of business.
When everyone was once again fully equipped, Captain Tanizai took personal command of the company and marched them down to the western egress of the valley. The mujahideen were ordered to ground their packs, then begin SEAM digging defensive positions that covered both the valley and the ground above. The mortars were arranged a few dozen yards to the rear to organize for short-range barrages. The crews' aiming stakes were quickly deployed to align all the tubes on the proper azimuth.
Weariness dogged Tanizai as he walked slowly along the platoon perimeters that faced the direction the infidel enemy would come from. The valley was sealed shut, and anyone approaching them would come under the combined firepower of both light and heavy infantry weapons.
.
THE WADI KHESTA VALLEY
1500 HOURS LOCAL
THE going was easy for the SEALs. The valley was wide at that point--approximately half a kilometer--and the ground was flat and firm. They had noticed the flights of helicopters that traveled from east to west, but noted there had only been two lifts flown before the aerial activity ceased. That would mean that if a mujahideen unit had been taken ahead to lay an ambush, there could not be more than fifty of the enemy positioned for an encounter.
Lieutenant Wild Bill Brannigan hoped the bastards were waiting to engage the platoon. It shouldn't be too difficult to deal with them from the valley, and the canteens the mujahideen undoubtedly had with them would be a godsend. The lack of water was a situation that grew more serious with each passing hour. The highly disciplined SEALS took only small sips from their canteens when they should have been gulping down large swallows to replace the body fluids being sweated away in the pressing heat.
Brannigan noted the men were beginning to look like candidates toward the end of Hell Week during BUD/S. The situation they now endured was the exact reason why SEAL aspirants were driven to the utmost in spiritual and physical limits during training. If the fainthearted were able to successfully complete SEAL training and win the coveted Trident badge, any weaklings among the platoon would have succumbed to the hardships days before. Even the ancient Roman legions recognized the importance of a tough, unrelenting training program, and the centurions who led the legionnaires did their best to make the training more difficult than actual combat.
Suddenly Joe Miskoski's voice came over the LASH from the rear of the column. 'Choppers coming in on our
