Jack Terral - Battleline (2007)

"There isn't time anyway," Redhawk said with a slight grin. He turned away, stepping up the trail. "We got to make sure the route is clear all the way to their defenses."

"Lead on," Matsuno said.

.

0415 HOURS

THE strike force was now gathered at the extreme southern flank of the Zaheya defensive line. The Odd Couple had moved forward to keep watch down the parapets where individual sentries gazed out across no-man's-land to the SEAL positions. Bruno Puglisi with the SAW had set himself up on an elevated position that offered a good view straight over the spot where Assad and Leibowitz now hunkered. Puglisi would be able to provide excellent covering fire for the withdrawal after the raid. He began to carefully lay out his magazines where they would be within easy reach. He kept two of the bandoliers around his shoulders in case they might be needed for a running retreat if the situation went completely to hell.

Now Bill Brannigan brought in the rest of the participants. "Everybody put your selectors on three-round bursts," he said, being careful to whisper as softly as possible. "Firepower is gonna be the name of this game." As soon as everyone had complied, he spoke into the LASH: "Brigand One."

"Roger," said Lieutenant JG Jim Cruiser. He was across the valley on the SEALs' MLR. "Everything is ready on this side, Skipper. And I have a happy surprise: Not only did those fifty-calibers arrive here ahead of time, there was also an extra one."

"Alright!" Brannigan exclaimed.

Cruiser continued, "So Chief Gunnarson has four ready to cover you when you need it. I sent Sturgis and Malachenko over to man the extra weapon."

"Okay, sounds good," Brannigan said. "Here we go."

.

THE BATTLE

PUGLISI watched as Brannigan led the way down the defensive line. Mike Assad was just behind him with Joe Miskoski and his M-203. Next came Taylor and Leibowitz, with Redhawk, Matsuno, and Concord bringing up the rear. The attack by the SEALs was a classic maneuver called "rolling up the flank." It consisted of hitting a weak extreme side of the enemy line and smashing down its length.

It took but an instant before the nearest Arab sentry glanced their way. When he saw the Americans easing toward him in the trench, he stood open-mouthed in shock at the sight of the unexpected infiltrators. Brannigan pulled the trigger on his M-16, and the resultant burst of three rounds hit the raghead, kicking him back onto a stack of sandbags. The man, already dead, bounced off and crumpled to the ground.

The door to the nearest bunker opened, but before the Arab could step out, Miskoski fired a grenade into the interior. The resultant explosion and screams gave stark evidence of the effectiveness of the projectile. Now, farther down, other fighters emerged from their bunkers, and Brannigan and Assad kicked out several more bursts as Miskoski fired two grenades over their heads that added to the carnage of the fusillades.

SIKES Pasha came wide awake, leaping from his cot in the al-Askerin-Zaubi headquarters bunker. He grabbed his FA-MAS bullpup rifle and rushed outside just in time to see two grenade detonations tear into a trio of his Arab Storm Troopers. He hosed a long automatic burst in the direction of the attackers, then leaped into a parapet where two of his men were trying to find targets to shoot at. The problem was twofold for the defenders. They had no breadth of an MLR to offer resistance to the assault, and the incoming fire was fluctuating rapidly from light to heavy, forcing them to duck for cover. One Arab stood up to deliver a fire burst but caught a chestful of slugs that hurled him against Sikes. Both men went down, but it was the Brit who was able to get back to his feet.

He damned the danger and set up rhythmic firing without regard to his own safety.

BRANNIGAN and Assad, with Sikes' bullets splattering around them, moved into an adjacent parapet where a duo of corpses, their upper torsos and heads torn apart by both rifle slugs and grenade shrapnel, were sprawled. Now Taylor and Leibowitz rushed forward, both systematically pulling M-16 triggers to throw out a narrow cone of concentrated fire. With these additional salvos taking some of the pressure off them, the Skipper and Assad joined in with their own bursts.

SIKES felt a heavy blow to his left shoulder that turned him halfway around. His knees buckled and he went down, his numb hands unable to maintain a grasp on his rifle. He immediately felt someone grabbing his collar and dragging him. He looked up to see his faithful warrant officer, Shafaqat Hashiri, pulling him from the parapet and across the walkway toward the entrance to the Headquarters bunker. Hashiri held his own bullpup in the other hand, firing short bursts until he reached the door and pulled his commander inside. Then he quickly slammed the steel portal shut to keep intruders and grenades at bay.

ENSIGN Taylor was now leading the Brigands in their continuing assault, with Leibowitz at his heels. Garth Redhawk and Matty Matsuno were close behind them, with Brannigan and Miskoski following. The latter kept firing the 40-millimeter grenades in short arcs over the heads of the other SEALs to clear the way for them. Detonations, single shots, and automatic bursts of rifles added to the din of shouting, fighting men as the battle continued to evolve.

DOWN on the northern flank, Captain Naser Khadid and his Iranian SF troopers were moving rapidly toward the roar of combat to join in the battle. Suddenly a barrage of heavy machine-gun fire slammed into them. The incoming bullets that missed the men either ricocheted off the metal and concrete of the defenses or plowed into sandbags. Directly above him, Captain Jamshid Komard did his best to set up counterfire against the enfilading volleys, but each time they cut loose with their own machine guns or the automatic grenade launchers, the enemy across the valley would turn their swarms of large .50-caliber slugs on them, forcing the gunners to duck down. Those who didn't find suitable cover died instantly with gaping exit wounds made by the heavy rounds that literally ripped and smashed their bodies, leaving messy piles of meat.

AT that moment Bill Brannigan realized they had penetrated as deeply as feasible and it was time to withdraw. This was not a winnable battle for the Americans, nor was it expectedto be. The mission was to get into the enemy's faces, make 'em bleed, then haul ass while the ragheads were still disorganized and demoralized. "Let's get out o' here!" he shouted into his LASH. The loudness of his voice distorted the transmission, but not enough that the SEALs couldn't understand him. They immediately began a withdrawal down the defensive line, leaping over the corpses of dead Zaheya soldiers. Bruno Puglisi went on the alert, ready to support in case of pursuit, but none was mounted against them.

As Brannigan ran with the others, he raised Jim Cruiser over the LASH. "Call in the Air Force, goddamn it!"

"Aye, sir," Cruiser replied. "Gomez is on the horn right now. Get the hell out of there! Chief Gunnarson's four guns have the area saturated with covering fire for you."

When Brannigan and the others reached the original entrance point, they found Puglisi packed up and ready to move out, with all his bandoliers once again slung over his broad shoulders. Assad and Leibowitz led the way back down the trail, with the others following. Heavy fire from the SEAL machine-gun positions across the valley immediately began pounding the small area, the hail of .50-caliber slugs hitting at a combined rate of twenty-four rounds a minute, or forty bullet strikes per second. It was as if each were a blow from a pile driver gone mad. Any Zaheya soldiers desiring to pursue immediately withdrew from the clobbering thunder.

When the SEALs arrived at the flat area behind the mountain, they headed for the rendezvous point where the Air Force Pave Low chopper would pick them up. A scant two minutes passed before the helicopter's engine could be heard approaching the area. Brannigan sent Ensign Taylor to the front of the formation to lead the way to the pickup point. The SEALs had gone no more than fifty meters when they were suddenly in the midst of incoming rifle fire. They looked back and spotted some two dozen enemy soldiers shooting at them.