Gunslingers

The wind whipped my short hair and brought a terrible chill to my body. This was the problem with fighting in a desert: the days were blazing hot and the nights were bone-chillingly cold.

Over the last few nights, the Marines and my team had slowly crossed Iraq to get to the compound. We wanted to be the ones to find Saddam, and we wanted to find him immediately. This compound and the man hiding out in it should be the key.

"This sucks," Baker said, hunkering down in his coat. At least, I wasn't the only cold one. "How far away are we from the compound?"

I shook my head. I had no idea where we were right now. My main concern was my gun not freezing. We all basically knew where we were, but only Dan and Cory had the map.

"Suck it up, boys." Rae looked over at us and shivered slightly. Even the mighty Marine was chilly.

We looked at each other and then back at Rae. So far she'd proven to be like any other solider, but there had been no combat yet, so it was too early to call.

The worst part was I kind of missed her. Granted, we'd only fucked twice, but she matched me. Rae was someone I enjoyed being around and could make me hot in an instant. Having her here was driving me insane.
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The compound was bigger than I expected it to be. It looked more like a small town than a place for one man and his family. It was massive, and I had to find a perfect spot to snipe from.

Zach, Rae, and I left the group to go scout the perfect spot. We had left the other Marines about seven kilometers away. The three of us scaled some rocks and climbed slightly higher than was needed.

Once we were a little higher, I pulled out my weapon and looked to see if I could see the entire compound. It was a decent view, but it wasn't good enough. So I motioned for us to move. And we once again started trekking all over the terrain.

We moved about five hundred meters and did the entire routine again. This time, it was perfect. My gun got set up, and Zach set up his scope. Rae patrolled for a bit and then came back to us, watching our backs.

Now came the boring part, waiting. That was one downside to being the sniper: I never got to see the action. I loved my job; I really did, but I couldn't help but miss being in the thick of things.

The lights were off in the compound which meant my team would be using night vision googles. For some reason, I was nervous for them. I had this sick feeling something bad was going to happen.
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The compound rattled as guns sounded. This wasn't at all how this was supposed to go. We were supposed to be in and out without anyone knowing. This was the second time one of our missions had started to go to shit. Iraq sucked.

"Do we go and help?" Rae asked.

Zach shook his head and kept the scope pointed at the compound.

"No," he said, "They can handle themselves."

I watched more chaos unfold in my scope. People were running around, trying to hide from the scary Americans. That's when I saw something strange. The people stopped running and turned to face the other SEALs. They had their own weapons, and there was no sign of Allad. Shit, we were in a god damn storm. I knew my team could handle themselves, but Allad needed to be found.

"ZV, do you see Allad in the compound?" It was the first time I'd spoken since we'd found this spot.

"No."

Okay, that really wasn't good. If Allad wasn't in the compound, they knew we were coming. He had fled, and we were fighting the men he had left behind to distract us.

"Fuck."

A gun sounded sharply. Zach jumped a bit and turned to me. "Matt, we need to help."

I nodded. "V, you go down and help. I have to stay here until Dan says otherwise."

He nodded and packed up his scope, heading down to the compound rapidly. I watched him disappear and join the fray. Dan would probably chew me out later, but Allad needed to be found. The more people on the ground, the better. Besides, if Rae was as good as she said, I should be fine.

An AK-47 sounded and then a scream. Someone had been shot, and I had no idea who had been hit. There was still no sign of Allad anywhere I could see.

"Shit," Rae said softly behind me. "Sanders, we have a problem."

I wasn't supposed to take my eye off my target, but the tone of her voice was frightened, so I turned. Allad and two other men were looking at us and holding guns.

"Get up," Allad said in choppy English.

There was no way I could get the kill and the other two without one of us getting shot. Carefully, I put my hands up and slowly stood up.

"Americans?" Allad asked, glaring at the two of us while his two lackeys picked up our weapons. "Why is female with you?"

I stayed quiet, praying Rae would as well. All military were trained in interrogation evasion, but Special Forces received extra training.

Allad approached me and put a pistol under my chin. "I asked question."

His English was surprisingly good, but I still refused to answer. This asshole was just going to have to kill me. Allad glared at me and then pistol-whipped me. He turned to his men and shouted something. I really should have learned Farsi.

The two men grabbed us and tied our wrists behind our backs then made us walk. If I was alone, I would fight back, but Rae wasn't trained in my tactics. It said nothing against her capabilities, just that I knew more than her.
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They kept us together, tying our hands together. Allad had taken us to a new compound, and I imagined he was going to kill us as an example to other Americans.

"What are we going to do?" Rae whispered. She didn't sound scared like I expected.

"Honestly, I have no idea. I'm working on it."

She went back to silence. We trained over and over for situations like these but never really expected them to happen. I could only hope the team knew we were missing and would come to find us.

Notes

Sorry I didn't update the other day. It's been hectic at my house. What's going to happen to Matty and Rae? Any thoughts?

Please rate and comment.

Heretic Blood