Terrorist Hunt
The cold salty sea air stung Commander Rands face as the Zodiac insertion craft cut through the stormy sea. To his right he could barely make out the outline of his SEAL team members in the dark black night. A half-hour before his team had been inserted several miles off the shore of Beirut by the nuclear attack submarine Cheyenne. Their mission was to neutralize the infamous terrorist Akid bin Shad. They were supposed to have been on shore by now except the stormy sea was making travel in the small craft difficult. However as SEALs they were used to minor setbacks and they adjusted to them as they came up and always managed to come out on top. However this mission may be the most dangerous mission in Rands life and he did not want to afford any setbacks. He turned to his right and asked one of his men, Higgs how far to shore it was. Higgs responded after checking their GPS with “Sir we are exactly one half of a mile from the shore give or take five meters.” “Good” said Rands as he cut the engine on the Zodiac. He gave his men the order to prepare to dive and they were ready thirty seconds later. “Over the edge” said Rands and simultaneously four bodies slid into the dark water. No more than three seconds later the Zodiac was punctured by four SEAL knife 2000’s. After the boat released a quiet sigh the weight of the engine began to pull it under the sea. The four-man team swam the next half-mile towards the shore. About a hundred meters from shore Rands swam to the surface and whispered into his waterproof radio “This is Fireman to Chief do you copy over?” Fireman was Rands call sign for this mission and “Chief” was an E3-B AWACS aircraft flying several thousand feet above. Chief responded “Roger. This is Chief we copy over.” Rands asked “Are their any fires in the forest over?” By “forest” he meant the beach and “fires” were hostiles. Chiefs reply was “Roger the forest is clear of fires over.” The AWACS could tell this by taking a real time thermal imaging feed from an orbiting CIA KH-12 spy satellite. With that over Rands ordered his men to swim to the beach where they exited the water under a quiet wooden dock. Once there they quickly opened their waterproof packs and took out their respective weapons. Rands covered his men with a nine millimeter Heckler and Koch MP-5 Sub Machine Gun while they got out of their scuba gear. They in turn covered Rands after they were done getting out of the scuba gear. After everyone was completely changed into black Nomex and Kevlar Rands gave the command to move out. The group made its way silently towards the first row of houses along the beach. They knew this was the terrorists backyard and they didn’t want to start any fighting unless they absolutely had to. Rands had chosen each of his men for their excellence in certain fields. Higgs was an excellent assault man and at six foot five inches and two hundred and seventy pounds he was a formidable adversary. Higgs carried a silenced .223 caliber M4 Carbine. Turner was the opposite of Higgs. He was their team sniper and was just a tad smaller than the average man. Even though he was rather small he was probably the best in the business. Turner sported a custom silenced Steyr Scout and with it he could reach out to the most extreme ranges and touch people in the head with a 7.62 millimeter round. Last there was Richards. Richards used to work for the CIA as a field officer in the supposedly non-existent Dark Ops department before he joined the SEALs. As a result he was used to sneaking around behind enemy lines in several hot spots and he moved with more stealth than anyone Rands had ever met. Richards was armed with a silenced MP-5. Rands ordered Turner to deploy on the top of a nearby three story clay house. From up there Turner had a view of the entire street leading to bin Shad’s house. When Turner reached the top he automatically surveyed the area around Shad’s house for guards. He reported back to Rands that there were two guards armed with AK-47s in front of the house but they appeared to be having difficulty staying awake. Rands knew that tired men did not make for attentive men and thus ordered Richards to sneak up and knife one of the guards while Turner planted a bullet into the head of the other one. As Richards carefully made his way towards the house Turner kept his crosshairs centered on one of the guards heads. As soon as Richards was in position Rands told them both to go and Turner squeezed back on the trigger and sent a bullet right into the temple of one of the guards killing him instantly. The other guard seeing his friend drop to the ground instantly became more attentive. However before he could alert anyone to the enemy presence Richards walked up behind him grabbed his hair and in one quick motion cut his throat. The guard made a quiet gurgling sound as he slid to the ground and Richards calmly wiped his knife on the guards clothes after confirming his death. The SEALs then waited for half a minute to see if anyone had heard the fighting. When no one appeared Rands gave the order to move into the house. However the front door was locked. This was not a problem for the muscular Higgs who smashed in the wooden door with one powerful kick. Inside were two more guards that Rands and Higgs finished with three shot bursts to the head. Having been briefed on the layout of the house they knew where Shad’s room was on the second story and the third door from the right. Rands gave the order and the team quickly ascended the steps. However at the top was another guard who managed to shoot off a six round burst from his .45 caliber MAC-10 before three nine millimeter bullets smashed into his throat and face. Luckily all six shots missed and lodged themselves into wooden pillars that were supporting the roof. However since his MAC-10 was not silenced it alerted every armed man around the house that there was fighting going on. Rands realized that within a few minutes no less than a hundred armed terrorists would descend on the house. He ordered his men down the hall and once again Higgs kicked in the door this time into Shad’s room. Inside Shad was reaching for his .50 caliber Desert Eagle Action Express but the bullets from two MP-5s and an M4 slammed into him and killed him. Rands checked his pulse just to be sure and after confirming his death ordered everyone to rendezvous at Turner’s position. Meanwhile Turner was looking around outside and he knew when he heard the six round MAC-10 burst that any second he would have multiple targets to engage. Around the corner of Shad’s house he saw two men running for the front door. He immediately positioned his crosshairs on the one in front and squeezed the trigger killing the first man. The second man had more luck and dashed inside the house with a shot in his arm. However he found the inside of the house less hospitable than the outside when he received several shots to his chest and head. Higgs, Richards and Rands quickly exited the house and ran to where Turner was sniping. Rands got on the radio and asked Chief what the ETA was for the extraction choppers. Chief said they were about three minutes out. Rands then quickly set up an infrared light which was invisible to the human eye but painfully obvious to anyone wearing night vision goggles. This was so the choppers could find the extraction zone. Suddenly to the right of the building machine gun fire erupted. All the SEALs instinctively ducked for cover but it wouldn’t have mattered if they stood straight up or not. The first few rounds flew harmlessly over the spots the SEALs had occupied less than four seconds ago and the last few rounds of that burst hit the clay parapets of the building sending several small shards of clay flying in all directions. Rands told his men to stay down and he cautiously peeked over the edge. As soon as his eye got around the corner the machine gun went off again and this time it was aiming for Rands. He quickly ducked his head back behind the cover of the parapet but before he did he saw the enemy’s muzzle flash. From the muzzle flash Rands determined the enemy position and he also glimpsed that they were using an M60 machine gun. He told his fellow SEALs where the enemy’s position was and once the burst of M60 machine gun fire was over all four SEALs opened fire on the enemy position. Turner hit the gunner of the machine gun and both Higgs and Richards hit the machine guns belt feeder. When the echo from the last bullet was gone Rands heard the dull thudding of helicopter blades moving towards him. He told the men to get their gear ready and to be on the chopper as fast as possible. Within thirty seconds the helicopters were overhead of the SEALs position. The helicopter was a SH-60 Seahawk painted solid black so it would be invisible to the naked eye after it was airborne. As soon as the chopper set down the SEALs ran for it and Rands counted each one of his men by slapping them on the shoulder to make sure he didn’t leave anyone behind. Within several seconds all the men were aboard and the helicopter started rising into the air. Suddenly to the left of the aircraft there was a bright flash as a previously unknown terrorist fired a shoulder launched Stinger Anti-Aircraft missile. The pilot swerved to the left and got down as low as he could against the ground and released some flares. The missile continued to track the chopper for about a quarter of a second before it lost acquisition because of the flares and slammed into a nearby building. Within several minutes the chopper had cleared land and was over open seas leaving behind several angry terrorists. The SEALs had done their mission and with the absence of Akid bin Shad from the global terrorist community, organized terrorism would begin to fall apart and eventually disappear totally. Just another average day in the life of a SEAL Rands thought as the chopper landed on the deck of the USS Carl Vinson.
By [ESF] Col. Human Bomb
