Pappa Zulu – Chapter 16

“Nobody ever defended anything successfully, there is only attack and attack and attack some more”

-George S. Patton

The river went on by in a loud torrent. The recent rainfall had raised the water level noticeably, and wherever it went downhill the water gushed pretty heavily. Good way to mask their footsteps, if of course any Whiskeys were in the area.

Thus far, they had encountered none, but that was to be expected along the roadway. No traffic came through Santa Fe National Park anymore, it was said. Hence, any Whiskeys who waited by the roadside, expecting a meal to drive by, had surely moved on or died long ago.

The motorcade had parked a hundred meters back and they moving on ahead, squad by squad, onto the mountain path. A thin layer of gravel lined the ground. At one time hikers would have come through here, people on a daytime sojourn, hoping to make their way to the top of Cerrito Colorado for the view. Today, a different kind of hike was taking place. Four armed squads heading uphill in search of embedded creatures.

Up front, Mill and Jones took the lead, the one with his SAW and the other his combat shotgun. Saunders held the middle spot, Whitman at her side and Majorca holding up the rear. Just a few meters behind them, Tate was heading up the path with 2nd Squad. The rest fell in behind them, with the LT leading up with third and monitoring their progress as they neared the suspected location of the mountain’s caves.

The path arched to the left up ahead and Saunders called for a stop. She produced her map from her pocket and noted the spots they had selected on the map. The creek that was coming down the hill had paralleled them thus far, but now proceeded on a direct route up the southern slope. She noted that three of the caves indicated were mighty close to it. The path veered and re-intercepted them at intervals, but the path of the creek shot past them in a much more direct line. A simple thought occurred…

“What’s the word, Sarge?” asked Mill. She raised the map to him and pointed to the spot that concerned her.

“If we follow the creek, we might just shave some time off the first set of our objectives here.”

He spied where she was indicating and hummed thoughtfully. “LT was of the opinion that we should stick to the path.”

“LT might be wrong here,” she said. “Sending four squads on one path seems a bit excessive. And given all the caves we got to check, might be better to split up, handle more terrain that way.”

Mill nodded, though she could tell he didn’t like the idea much. But she was the Sarge, and one didn’t argue with the boss publicly.

Confirming her plan, she keyed the comm and called for the LT. “Viper One Actual, this is Viper One One, interrogative, over.”

The reply was prompt. “Viper One Actual here, go ahead.”

“Viper One, we’ve reached the first fork and are requesting permission to follow the creek bed to objectives Alpha, Charlie and Romeo.”

The next reply was not so prompt. “Viper One One, that’s a negative, over. We proceed along the path to the first objective.”

“Viper One, the creek bed presents a more direct path. And I think the water will conceal our approach better.”

Another pause. “Viper One One, hold your position. I’m coming up.”

Saunders released the comm and sighed. He was coming up. She knew what that meant. In military parlance, that meant he wasn’t about to get into an argument over an open comm and was coming to yell at her in person. She steeled herself for the confrontation she knew was coming and waited. True to his word, the LT came forward within a few seconds and called her aside.

They stepped to the creek bed, a few feet from the path and the rest of the troops, and began talking.

“What are you thinking here, Sergeant?”

She produced her map again and began pointing it out to him. “I’m thinking, sir, that if we approach from this vantage, we might have a better chance catching them unaware. If we divide our forces -”

“I meant,” he interrupted. “What are you doing suggesting a change to the ROE over an open comm like that? You don’t question an op in progress for everyone to hear, you know that.”

She lowered her head and cleared her throat. “Yes, sir. Sorry, sir.”

“If you have a suggestion or an idea, you call me forward right away so we can discuss it. Otherwise it sounds like you’re commandeering the platoon and I’m letting you.”

“Yes, sir.”

“Sergeant, I’m serious,” he said, raising his voice just a little. She looked up at him and felt something burning in her face. Before she could stop herself, the words she didn’t want to say escaped from her mouth.

“I know that, sir. That’s why I’m agreeing with you, sir.”

Braun’s face similarly went hot. She could see from the way it flushed that he had a sudden excess of blood there. He, however, had better luck restraining himself and took a deep breath before saying anything more.

“Sergeant, if there’s something you want to discuss in private, we can do just that. But in the meantime, we’ve got a job to do.”

Don’t I know it, she thought. Standing straight, saying nothing, she let him finish this time. Sans interruption and sans challenge that might prolong things. Thankfully, his tone brightened and became more rational.

“The plan you mentioned, it’s not the worse I’ve heard. However, I do not think it’s wise to divide our forces at this time. What’s more, I want to come upon these caves from an indirect route so we can position troops in front of each of them, and move simultaneously once were all in position. If I send you and another squad up the creek while the rest of us loop behind, that wrecks our timing. Got it?”

She nodded. “Yes, sir.” She knew he was under no obligation to explain all this her, the outline of the plan had already been made clear and in accordance with the regulations, her only duty was to obey. And yet, he seemed to feel the need to impress the importance for doing things way on her. That struck her as a bit strange. It also seemed strange that he had taken such offense to her request to alter the ROE.

But then again, going by the book was not exactly something they were known for.

There was nothing more to be said. Except of course for obvious:

“Is that all, sir?”

Braun raised his chin and looked down the length of his nose at her. “Dismissed.”

She turned and proceeded back to her squad. All were waiting and kept their thoughts to themselves. Twice in one day now, and she was starting to feel genuinely embarrassed. So much for keeping things on the DL and professional. Time to suck it up and get things back on track!

“Alright squad, we’re Oscar Mike.”

They proceeded up the path without further incident, or argument…

*               *               *

“Viper One Four in position,” came the call. The other squads reiterated their status for all to hear. All the caves on the southern slope were now accounted for and covered. As it turned out, only three had proven to be legit. The rest were either caved in or hadn’t been properly designated. Which left them one one squad in reserve. As it happened, that was the LT’s, and he was holding back to offer reinforcement, should the need arise.

Saunders keyed the mike to offer her report. “Viper One One, holding position.”

The LT took to the line a second later…

“All Squads, proceed with phase one.”

Saunders turned to Majorca. “You heard him, Private. Start laying the Claymores.”

“Right on,” he said, and opened his satchel to grab the first of four. Mill moved in to help him lay the wire and begin hooking them up. Whitman poked his head into the recess and sniffed around.

“Sure as shit, that’s Whiskey shit.” He took another long whiff just to be sure. “Yep, that’s definitely definitely Whiskey shit.”

“Yeah, nice Rainman imitation, Private,” said Saunders. Mill jumped in, surprisingly in Whitman’s defense.

“No, ma’am. He knows what he’s talking about. Back when our unit was retaking Santa Fe, we had a run in with some Whiskeys, were hiding out at the bottom of a stairwell. Place was loaded with their shit, real horror show.”

Saunders looked at him curiously. “Really?”

“Whole place was a shit hole,” confirmed Whitman.

From his spot watching their rear, Jones jumped in too. “And that wasn’t even the worst part. Tell her what happened next.”

She looked to Mill, who seemed to be the story master now. He continued to unspool wire and gave a shrug.

“Well, turns out they were laying in wait for somebody. One of the many indications we started getting that maybe they weren’t so dumb after all.”

“Mage was damn impressed too,” interrupted Jones.

“Hey, who’s telling the story?” Mill yelled to him. “Anyway, the Sarge -” he stopped short. Everyone in the squad looked suddenly embarrassed. “You know what? Doesn’t matter.”

Saunders forced a smile. T he subject of Dezba was still a touchy one. No one seemed to know where he was, whether he was reassigned, transferred or had been discharged. Beyond the mere fact that he had survived their exfil from LA, no one seemed to know a thing.

Majorca looked up from his work. The last of the Claymores was in place and the wires attached.

“All set,” he said. Saunders keyed her comm.

“Viper One Actual, this is Viper One One. We are good to go, over.”

“Roger that, Viper One One. Stand by for phase two, over.”

How about a little congratulations, she thought. The other squads were still busy prepping and her team managed to get their mines deployed and regail her with an interesting story. Well, half of one anyway.

Within minutes, the other squads reported in, all of them finished laying their mines and waited for the go for the next phase. Braun was sure to give it to them once the last report came to him.

“Roger that. All squads, begin phase two. Pop em and lock em!”

“Stand back,” Saunders ordered as she pulled the special canister grenade from her vest. The red ring around it indicated that it was a pheromone charge, not to be confused with smoke or her flashbangs. She pulled the pin and waited for the others to get clear and to the trees behind them. Knocking the spoon off, she gave it a good toss in the maw of the cave and ran to join them. The seal broke and began to emit a loud hiss, the mouth of the cave echoing and magnifying it forward.

Taking a spot by the others, Saunders crouched and waited, her SCAR propped against her shoulder and the sights leveled at the entrance. The cloud of pheromone vapor was barely visible, but for any Whiskey lurking within, it’s presence was anything but mistakable. Majorca held the detonator in his hand and flipped the safety up.

“C’mon…” he whispered. The others were huddled tight and stared down the length of their sites. The seconds passed, their eyes and ears attuned to the cave for the moans and groans they were sure would be coming.

Any second now…

Any second…

Saunders readjusted her hold on the weapon and was still waiting. Over the hill, they heard a loud thud. Not far away, someone had made contact. A signal came over the comms a second later.

“Viper One Two, reporting enemy contact.” A slight delay, then: “Six Whiskeys reported dead. No additional contact.”

Another blast followed. “Viper One Four, enemy contact. Multiple confirmed kills.”

Saunders grumbled. Two for three, and they were still waiting. She turned to Whitman. “You’re sure that was Whiskey shit you smelt in there, Private?”

He lowered his M16 and shook his head. “Positive ma’am. I’d know that smell anywhere. Even their shit smells like death.”

Mill ventured a thought. “Could be the pheromone didn’t get far enough down the cave.”

“You saying I didn’t throw it far enough?” she asked.

Mill smiled raised his hands defensively. “No, ma’am. Maybe there was some wind blowing from the inside out.”

“Is that even possible?” asked Majorca.

“Who knows? Depending on how deep it goes, and if there’s an underground water source.” He shook his head, indeterminately. “Who knows how deep these caves even go?”

Saunders rotated her neck to release the kinks that were building up there. Somehow, this just didn’t seem right. Odds were, this cave simply wasn’t occupied. But if there was nothing to be found in there, then why the sinking feeling that they were missing something? And considering the likely consequences for the villagers, they couldn’t afford to leave a stone unturned.

“Gentlemen… that story you were telling earlier…”

Mill responded warily. “Yes?”

“How does it end?” She asked, though it sounded more like an order. Mill looked at the others even more warily, unsure of how to proceed here. A sensitive topic it was still, but his superior had asked him directly to provide closure on it.

“Uh, well, like we said, we were sitting in the stairwell and the Sarge gets this weird feeling. It’s like he’s got this sixth sense for Whiskeys and knows when they’re about to jump us, right? So he pops a flashbang and drops it into the stairwell, right down to the bottom. The thing goes boom and shakes up the entire lot of them down below. They get pissed and start running up the stairs at us, but we managed to get back to a covered spot and opened up on em big.”

“Fucking eh,” said Jones, holding his shotgun like it was his junk. “Blasted at least six of em myself with Big Bertha here!”

Whitman scoffed. “You were shitting your pants, you were so scared!”

Saunders ignored the back and forth that followed. Her eyes were fixed on the cave ahead of them and the small cloud that was coming out of it now. Maybe Mill was right. If it ran deep enough, there was no way the Whiskeys could sniff out their bait. And if they were far enough down the hole, there was only one to root them out.

A smile formed on her lips as a question of sudden and infinite merit crossed her mind.

WWDD? What would Dezba do?

“Gentlemen, prepare to move,” she ordered. “We’re going in.”