Mission
Chapter I, Part I: Mission
(Queue ‘Spirit in the Sky’ by Norman Greenbaum)
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March 29th, 2021 | 8:37 AM | Yemen, Ta’izz Governate
Vrrrrrrrrrttttttt....
The sound of several tires on gravel and sand echoed throughout the open valleys and mountainous regions of Ta’izz, garnering the attention of silent and unseen onlookers.
“Ey Soloman, can you pass me a Shiner?”
“Tch. Gimme the cig.”
“One thing at a time, Sol, damn! You greedy bitch.”
The two U.S. Marines shared verbal spars, while the rest of the ten-man squad stared out over the vast Yemeni landscape, bored out of their minds. Sergeant Keller, who stood with one leg hanging out the back of the personnel truck, and one hand holding onto the support railing of the exposed back of the military truck.
Keller drew smoke from the cigarette in his free hand as he casually gauged the situation; Two personnel trucks, one LAV-25, and four humvees. Was this really necessary for a village that didn’t even have a translated name on Google Maps?
Then again, he wasn’t given the confidentials on this operation. Just the greenlight to smack around a few civvies if needed, and search the homes for some guy named ‘Kalil’, with only the physical description of having a large scar across his face diagonally. That was literally all his superior said; a complete 180 from the usual painfully-detailed plans his usual superiors would have pressed upon him.
In fact, this whole op was clearly meant to be kept on the down-low; His superior had immediately referred him to the Brigadier General that had sanctioned this mission, who promised him a two-grade bump and a heavy pay bump, along with recommendations for joining Delta Force when he hadn’t even spent 4 years as a Sergeant.
Just to find some schmuck in bum-fuck nowhere with a single name to go on.
“Un-fuckin-believable.”
They could have assigned a Gunnery Sergeant to lead this patrol, but they chose him instead. Why?
Keller bit the inside of his cheek in contemplation- He supposed it was too late to question that now. This was his first shady op; He knew it was gonna come eventually. He’d talked to plenty of his close CO pals about their own ‘off-the-grid’ operations.
Yet, he couldn’t stop the nervous, arrhythmic beating in his heart. Maybe it was natural during these kinds of ops, but he had a bad feeling about this...
“Hey, Sarge, you want one?”
Keller’s thoughts dissipated for a moment, as Solomon stuck a Shiner within his periphery.
“Nah. Not on duty.”
“Yeah, but Sarge...” said Stigman, the Intelligence officer sitting adjacent of Solomon; His lightweight frame led the other Marines to often call him ‘Stickman’ behind his back. “...surely, we can make an exception this time around?”
Keller raised an eyebrow. He hadn’t much expected an officer, of all people, to be the one breaking code. Then again...
Damn. He needed to stop saying that.
He looked up towards the distant mountains, where they got the coordinates to head to. This place was really deep into the mountains. It was gonna take more than a few hours to get there....
And since they’d woken up at 0500 for this job, it would be about evening by the time they reached the village...
“Fuck it.” Keller sighed, gesturing to the cold box of beers the Marines had brought. “Just make sure you’re not shitfaced by 1800.”
“Sheeeeeesh!” Solomon said with a grin, his deep voice. “Yo, Hennessy, put some good shit on.”
“The fuck? This is good shit!”
“Naw, that’s cracka shit. Put on some soul.”
“Eh, I’m not feelin’ soul; However, I do got this.”
Hennessy pulled out his phone, changing the music on the PillBeats+ speaker seated next to him.
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(Queue ‘4 DA TRAP’ by 645AR)
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“Wh...” Solomon faltered, disgust on his face as Henny gigged uncontrollably. “This is why we don’t ever give you aux, Henny.”
“Ah, come on, don’t get yer panties in a bunch, here.”
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(Queue ‘Play That Funky Music’ by Wild Cherry)
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“Awww, shit! Alright, Henny! Did you bring any of your Cognac?”
“Tch, if I knew we were gonna be like this for the day, I would have!”
The Marines passed around beers, chatting raucously as the vehicle parade continued on their way up the mountains...
...holding the unseen attention of silent and unseen onlookers.
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6:16 PM
The patrol came rolling slowly up towards what was now clearly a layered village; Houses sat on risen hills in rectangular formations, layered like steps of stairs. Obviously, the music had been turned off beforehand.
“Looks like standard stuff.” Jefferies, another Marine in Keller’s squad, muttered as he hopped out alongside the others.
“It always fuckin’ looks like standard stuff.”
“Yeah...”
Keller hopped off the truck, walking to the front of the patrol and taking a good look at the village.
It was eerie; No one was walking around, but he could see eyes staring out from open windows. He’d been told by the front driver that the villagers had scurried back into their homes at the sight of the arriving armed vehicles.
Disgruntled by the eeriness, Keller turned to the Marines gathered behind him.
“Keep your rifles shouldered. We’re just tryin’ to find one guy.”
The Marines nodded, shouldering their rifles. He felt his heart began to quicken as he realized what could come next.
“You’re all here because you guys can keep a secret. So I’ll be frank: we might have to get rough with civilians to find this guy, if necessary.”
The unwavering gazes of his subordinates served to bring him back to reality- These were Marines. They knew what was going on.
“So, let’s try to avoid that for now and ask around. Who knows? Maybe it turns out he’s a parasite to the village and they give him up quickly.”
The Marines snickered at the ridiculous optimism of the statement. It never went like that.
“Sarge?” Hennessy asked aloud.
“What is it?”
“What if he tries to sneak out while we’re asking around?”
Keller turned his head, looking at the mountains that surrounded the village; The only clear path out of the village seemed to be down the trail they came up from.
“I guess he’ll have to learn how to outrun a Humvee.”
With that said, Keller ended the briefing, ordering the fireteam leads to act independently and start heading around the village, leaving a few Marines and the Intelligence Officer with the idling vehicles.
Just as the teams were beginning to head around the area, rifles shouldered, their intent seemed to be perceived by some of the villagers; A few began to come out hesitantly from their mud houses with suspicion in their eyes.
“Hello, sir.” One of the fireteam members said in Arabic, as he made his way up towards the nearest villager; An old man with surprising lack of wrinkles and a full head of gray hair. His eyes gleamed ominously, unsettling the Marines. “We were wondering if you-”
“Urz-kah. Do-fel-eperiz.”
“....Huh?”
