Stephen Coonts - Combat

The Land Rover was in the courtyard. When the man on the wall was out of sight, I slipped over to it and lay down. I pulled out the snap wire and snapped it around one of the suspension arms. The antenna of the bomb I let dangle.

This little job took less than thirty seconds. Then I scurried across the courtyard into the shelter of the staircase.

The conferees were probably in the living area; I sure as hell hoped they were. My edge was that the people here were not on alert. And why should they be? This fort was buried in the most desolate spot on the planet, hundreds of miles from anyplace.

Still, my life was on the line, so I moved as cautiously as I could, trying very hard to make no noise at all, pausing to listen carefully before I rounded any corner. My progress was glacial. It took me almost five minutes to climb the stairs and inch down the corridor to the radio room.

The hum of the generator was muted the farther away from it I moved, but it was the faint background noise that covered any minor noise I was making. And any minor noise anyone else was making. That reality had me sweating.

The door to the radio room was ajar, the room dark.

Knocking out the generator figured to be the easiest way to disable the radio, unless they had a battery to use as backup. I was betting they did.

After listening for almost a minute outside the door, I eased it open gently, my fighting knife in my hand.

The only light came through the interior window from the floods in the courtyard. The room was empty of people!

I went in fast, laid my knife on the table, got a bomb out of the rucksack. This one was rigged with a chemical fuse, so I broke the chemicals, shook the thing to start the reaction, then put the package — explosive, detonator, fuse and all — directly behind the radio. As I turned I was struck in the face by a runaway Freightliner.

Only partially conscious, I found myself falling. A rough hand gripped me fiercely, then another truck slammed into my face. If I hadn’t turned my head to protect myself, that blow would have put me completely out.

As it was, I couldn’t stay upright. My legs turned to jelly and I went to the floor, which was cold and hard.

“What a pleasant surprise,” my assailant said in highly accented English, then kicked me in the side. His boot almost broke my left arm, which was fortunate, because if he had managed to get a clean shot at my ribs he would have caved in a lung.

I wasn’t feeling very lucky just then. My arm felt like it was in four pieces and my side was on fire. I fought for air.

I couldn’t take much more of this. If I didn’t do something pretty damned quick he was going to kick me to death.

Curling into a fetal position, I used my right hand to draw my hideout knife from my left boot. I had barely got it out when he kicked me in the kidney.

At first I thought the guy had rammed a knife into my back — the pain was that intense. I was fast running out of time.

I rolled over toward him, just in time to meet his foot coming in again. I slashed with the knife, which had a razor-sharp two-sided blade about three inches long. I felt it bite into something.

He stepped back then, bent down to feel his calf. I got my feet under me and rose into a crouch.

“A knife, is it? You think you can save yourself with that?”

While he was talking he lashed out again with a leg. It was a kick designed to distract me, tempt me to go for his leg again with the knife.

I didn’t, so when he spun around and sent another of those ironfisted artillery shots toward my head, I was ready. I went under the incoming punch and slashed his stomach with the knife.

I cut him bad.

Now he grunted in pain, sagged toward the radio table.

I gathered myself, got out of his way, got into a crouch so I could defend myself.

He was holding his stomach with both hands. In the dim light I could see blood. I had really gotten him.

“Shouldn’t have played with you,” he said, and reached for the pistol in the holster on his belt.

Too late. I was too close. With one mighty swing of my arm I slashed his throat. Blood spewed out, a look of surprise registered on his face, then he collapsed.

Blood continued to pump from his neck.

I had to wipe the sweat from my eyes.

Jesus! My hands were shaking, trembling.

Never again, God! I promise. Never again!

I stowed the little knife back in my boot, retrieved the rucksack and my fighting knife from the table.

Outside in the corridor I carefully pulled the door to the radio room shut, made sure it latched.

Down the stairs, across the courtyard, through the gate. Safe in the darkness outside, I retrieved my M-16 and puked up my MREs.

Yeah, I’m a real tough guy. Shit!

Then I trotted for the trail to the oasis. It wasn’t much of a trot. My side, back, and arm were on fire, and my face was still numb. The best I could manage was a hell-bent staggering gait.

As I ran the numbness in my side and back wore off. I wheezed like an old horse and savored the pain, which was proof positive I was still alive.

Julie Giraud was standing beside the Humvee chewing her fingernails. I took my time looking over the area, made sure she was really alone, then walked the last hundred feet.

“Hey,” I said.

My voice made her jump. She glanced at my face, then stared. “What happened?”

I eased myself into the driver’s seat.

“A guy was waiting for me.”

“What?”

“He spoke to me in English.”

“Well …”

“Didn’t even try a phrase in Arabic. Just spoke to me in English.”

“You’re bleeding under your right eye, I think. With all that grease it’s hard to tell.”

“Pay attention to what I’m telling you. He spoke to me in English. He knew I understood it. Doesn’t that worry you?”

“What about the radio?”

“He knew I was coming. Someone told him. He was waiting for me.”

“You’re just guessing.”

“He almost killed me.”

“He didn’t.”

“If they knew we were coming, we’re dead.”

Before I could draw another breath, she had a pistol pointed at me. She placed the muzzle against the side of my head.

“I’ll tell you one more time, Charlie Dean, one more time. These people are baby-killers, murderers of women and kids and old people. They have been tried in a court of law and found guilty. We are going to kill them so they can never kill again.”

Crazy! She was crazy as hell!

Her voice was low, every word distinctly pronounced: “I don’t care what they know or who told them what. We are going to kill these men. You will help me do it or I will kill you. Have I made it plain enough? Do you understand?”

“Did the court sentence these people to die?” I asked.

“ I sentenced them! Me! Julie Giraud. And I am going to carry it out. Death. For every one of them.”

The satellite photos showed a wash just off the east end of the runway. We worked our way along it, then crawled to a spot that allowed us to look the length of it.

The runway was narrow, no more than fifty feet wide. The planes were parked on a mat about halfway down. The wind was out of the west, as it usually was at night. To take off, the planes would have to taxi individually to the east end of the runway, this end, turn around, then take off to the west.

“If they don’t discover that the guards are missing, search the place, find the bombs and disable them, we’ve got a chance,” I said. “Just a chance.”

“You’re a pessimist.”

“You got that right.”

“How many guards do you think are around the planes?”

“I don’t know. All of the pilots could be there; there could easily be a dozen people down there.”