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.The sound of heavy weaponry on the outskirts of the village was relentless now.The Taliban had clearly started engaging the enemy.Haq and his men burst into a nearby compound almost at random.A man stood by the door, shaking his head, his face full of panic.‘No,’ he said, unable to hide the fear he felt at standing up to a man of Haq’s reputation.‘If you come in here, the enemy will follow.My family—’Haq didn’t hesitate.He carefully laid his carrying case on the ground, unsheathed his knife and thrust it into the man’s belly.His victim’s eyes widened as he pulled the blade outwards and upwards, feeling it slide along the meeting point of his ribs.The man fell to the floor and a woman’s voice shrieked – Haq hadn’t even noticed her before – followed by the wailing of children.Haq located the woman.‘If your children are not immediately quiet, they will be the next to die.’ He brandished his bloodied knife in her direction to emphasise his point.The woman quickly gathered up the children and hustled them into a room.Haq and his men entered another room on the opposite side of the compound.It was deserted, small, dark and relatively cool.The dusty floor was covered by a shabby old carpet and someone had propped a scythe and a hoe up against the wall.This was clearly the home of farmers.There were two low cots covered with thin mattresses and a couple of soiled dishdashas draped over the end of each of them.Haq slid his carrying case under one of the cots and instructed his men to do the same.And then they took up positions, pointing their assault rifles out of the door.Farzad Haq did not expect anyone to find him here.But if they did, he would be ready.At the northern edge of the village, the firefight was blazing.The Paras’ ears were ringing, their bodies covered in sweat.Tracer rounds hissed around them; the.50-cal and gimpy thundered at the enemy position and the air was thick with the stench of cordite.RPGs blasted towards them from the enemy position, but although the noise they made when they exploded was loud enough to send a shock through the soldiers, the enemy’s aim was off and so far, without exception, the warheads had fallen no less than thirty metres short of their positions.They were getting closer, though, as the enemy got their eye in.It wouldn’t be long before they took a direct hit.A shout from behind.The Regiment liaison guy.‘Three Alpha have eyes on.Icom chatter confirms enemy advancing from the side.I’m calling the assault team in.’And in an instant the firefight that had only been blazing to the north had surrounded them as 3 Alpha and 3 Bravo rained their fire down on the enemy trying to outflank 1 and 2 Platoons.There would be a lot of dead Taliban to plant before sundown.Their manoeuvre was working.They’d drawn the enemy out.Any moment now, the assault team would be ready to insert.Jack felt a sudden lurch as the Black Hawk straightened up from its holding pattern.Instructions from the ground through the comms: enemy engaged, bring in the birds.One of the loadies shouted over the noise of the engine.‘One minute to insertion! One minute to insertion!’ He turned his attention back to the Minigun as the rest of the team prepared themselves.The ten men divided themselves into two groups, five on either side of the aircraft.Two thick, sturdy ropes were clipped to the interior of the chopper, one by each side door, and they lay curled up like sleeping snakes as the aircraft flew low over the southernmost edge of the village.From the open doors, Jack could see the compounds whizzing by just metres below.No civilians, of course – they were hiding from the brutal noise of the Paras’ distraction.They’d lived in a war zone for long enough to realise that this wasn’t a courtesy call.And then the helicopter was just hovering – height, about twenty metres – and Jack recognised the compound.The dust below them kicked up in swirling clouds of confusion.The loadies, leaning out of each side of the chopper, fired their Miniguns into the compound, spraying rounds in short bursts and taking out any targets they could get their eyes on.Jack saw two guards by the main entrance go down.Then the guns fell silent and the order came.‘Go, go, go!’Two of the team kicked the ropes out of the side doors and, in a manoeuvre they’d all executed more times than they could count, the ten men slid down.It took two seconds for them to hit the ground between the two mulberry bushes and the well, then peel off into their positions.The moment they were all down, the two ropes tumbled to the ground with a flat thump – it would be too dangerous to leave them hanging in case they got caught on anything as the chopper moved away, which it did immediately.In that instant, Jack took in his surroundings.By the entrance, the bodies of the dead guards were bloodied and contorted.Apart from that, no one in sight.Of course, that didn’t mean the place was empty, and the unit proceeded to conduct a swift compound clearance as the second Black Hawk containing the remaining ten men appeared above them.They fast-roped in just as quickly and efficiently, and the chopper disappeared.‘Compound clear! No targets!’ Jack heard Fly’s voice from the other side of the compound.Was it Jack, or did Fly sound a bit disappointed?He ran into the weapons cache.Four guys were already in there, laying explosives among the weaponry and rolling out lengths of fuse, a metre for each four seconds.Jack let them get on with their work.His eyes were looking out for just one thing: three long green carrying cases with white military writing on the side.But they weren’t there.Instead there was a bloodied flexible saw blade.His saw blade.Jack understood the message.That bastard Haq had removed the Stingers.The Paras’ diversion had started thirty minutes ago.The fucker could be anywhere.He felt a hot surge of frustration.Part of him wanted to go after Haq, right now.Find the fucker.But he knew that wasn’t an option.This was an in-and-out job.Go out on a limb and he’d be putting everyone’s life in danger, not just his own
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