Gambit

By Melissa

Meela Rumsey put the walkie-talkie to her mouth, “Dodge, this is Intrepid, over,” she called softly to her operator.

“Intrepid, reading your signal 5 by 5, go ahead.”

“We have confirmed that target Bravo is a missile silo. Proceeding to target Charlie, confirm, over.”

“Roger that. Do take precautions Intrepid, nuclear pilings can be a health hazard. Over,” Calder Slandovich said with a slight smirk.

“Dodge is an idiot, confirm?”

“That’s an affirmative. Over and out.”

Meela took her hand from her shoulder mic with a smile. She looked at the four soldiers surrounding her. “All right men, lets move out.” The two man and two woman team responded immediately, moving silently through the slight undergrowth.

After awhile of stealthy moving Meela held up her hand. She looked at one woman who had a satellite uplink strapped to her arm. “Bearing, Reeves?” she whispered.

Reeves tapped what appeared to be fabric on her arm and it brightened into a plasma screen with a map on it. “It should be thirty meters north. We’re right along side of her.”

Meela nodded. “Alright, let’s proceed.” Meela moved slowly through the weeds and when she got close she lowered herself to her stomach. “Looks like four guards. Reeves and Davis, you’re with me, Neilson and Chavez hold your positions.”

The three moved forward and Davis, the squad’s nuclear specialist took out a small sensor. “No radiation so far Captain,” he reported.

“Good. Hope these guys know what kind of shielding they need.” The squad’s vests and helmets had been lined with a lead-based compound to protect against radiation poisoning. Nuclear weapons hadn’t been used for nearly a hundred years, not since beam weapons were developed. But they were cheap to make if you could find anyone who still knew how. And if you wanted cause a big explosion from a thousand miles away with little warning, there was no better way to do it.

Meela could now clearly make out the guards walking slow patrols near the two entrances. They wore night-vision goggles and were carrying assault rifles. “Peaceful intentions, yeah, right ,” Meela muttered to herself. Aloud she said “Get them in your sites ladies and gents. We move in once we’re clear. Neilson, Chavez cover us, then come after.” She raised her rifle loaded with tranquilizers and took aim. “On my mark. Three, two, one, mark.” She pulled the trigger. At first she wasn’t sure if she’d hit her target. Then the surprised soldier raised an unsteady hand to his neck and dropped to the ground. She confirmed that the others were down as well. “Alright, lets go.”

The team moved cautiously forward. Meela pulled alongside target Charlie and Reeves stopped beside her. “Man, I don’t need a nuclear specialist to tell me what that is,” Reeves whispered. Meela nodded. The target was definitely missile.

Davis nodded as he came up on them. “Detecting lots of active plutonium from this sucker Cap. She’s nuclear.”

“Dodge, this is Intrepid come in.”

“Go ahead Intrepid.”

“Target Charlie is a confirmed nuclear missile. Shall we proceed with operation Red October?”

“Go ahead Intrepid. Proceed with your own discretion.”

“Alright Dodge.” She sighed. “Here we go. Chavez, Neilson we have a positive confirmation on target Charlie. We’re a go on Red October.”

Davis and Reeves began laying the special explosives that neutralized the plutonium , so the bombs still went off, but they weren’t nuclear.

Meela looked around, checking on the fallen guards. Wait. One, two, three… An alarm suddenly sounded from inside the base. “Fall back!” Meela yelled bringing up her automatic rifle. Gunfire started up and pinged around the missile. Meela dove behind the missile with Davis and Reeves. “Don’t they know that that’s a NUCLEAR MISSILE!” Meela yelled as more bullets hit the side of the missile.

“They couldn’t actually set if off by firing at it,” Davis said matter-of-factly.

Reeves glared at him. “Yeah right. I saw that ‘I’m gonna pee my pants’ look when they started firing,” she said.

Suddenly something whistled over the squad. Instinctively Meela hit the ground. She heard muffled thump from about ten meters to her left. She looked and saw a crumpled body on the grass, an assault rifle on the ground next to him. She breathed out. “Thanks Chavez,” she said into her radio.

“No problem Captain,” she replied. “But he was talking into his radio when we hit him. You’ve got guards popping out everywhere as we speak. Looks like four coming from another building behind you.”

“Right. Squad, retreat!” Meela ordered. She ran back for the trees, running low. She and her men moved swiftly but still stealthily, still trying to keep hidden. They reached Chavez and Neilson and stopped behind the cover of some bushes. “Retreat, but lets do this in style ladies and gentlemen. Davis, Reeves and Neilson you go ahead and when you hit the trees, head about 100 meters south and pick a position to defend. Chavez and I will cover your retreat, then meet up with you at the extraction point in ten minutes.”

They all acknowledged that and Neilson, Reeves and Davis and moved off and Meela and Chavez turned their sites back towards the base. Meela slung the silenced sniper rifle off her back and joined Chavez where she lay on the crest of a hill just inside the trees.

“I see eight guards,” Chavez said, squinting into her scope and adjusting the focus. “They’re moving directly towards us. Eight more are heading away to the south.”

“Fire when ready,” Meela said, centering one figure in her sites and releasing the safety. Eight shots and the last guard of the first group dropped. They moved their sites to the second group, but bullets suddenly tore into to leaves above them. They quickly rolled down the slope. They stood and slung their rifles, running deeper into the woods. Meela grabbed her radio. “Reeves, you’ve got at least eight people approaching your team’s position. We’ll set up a position just north of you and when you’re clear, move west directly for the extraction point.”

“Roger.”

A minute later, gunfire erupted and seconds later was silenced. Chavez pointed to a thick group of bushes up a slight incline. Meela nodded and they quickly camouflaged themselves, ready to ambush another unlucky group of soldiers. Thirty seconds past and she caught sight of several figures moving slowly through the trees. She sighted one and was about to fire, when a loud burst of gunfire erupted to the south-west. Meela’s radio crackled.

“Captain, we’re pinned between two groups to the south and to the west of us. Neilson is hit, I’m not sure how bad.”

“We’re on our way,” Meela said softly. The soldiers in front of them had moved off towards the fighting. She and Chavez stood and stealthily followed them. They closed to within ten feet and Meela took off the site for her sniper. She hit two before they even turned around. Chavez suddenly opened fire from another direction, killing two more. The other four paused for just a second, unsure of where to shoot. The last mistake they ever made.

Meela and Chavez moved quickly now and soon they saw flashes of gunfire lighting the trees. She saw six figures silhouetted in the flashing light all firing at a single point. She and Chavez made quick work of them and the woods were silent again. They moved cautiously forward again until Meela heard a soft noise.

“Captain.”

Meela looked for the source. Five feet away, Reeves was crouched. “Reeves,” Meela said, walking over to her. “What’s…” she stopped cold as she saw the bodies of her other two team members.

“I’m sorry Captain. There were a lot more of them in the woods.”

Meela nodded and closed her eyes. “Come on,” she said softly. “We have to get out of here.”

Reeves stood and Meela suddenly noticed that she was favoring her right side. “Reeves are you hit?” she asked.

Reeves nodded as she bit her lip. “I’ll be alright for awhile Captain,” she said.

Meela dropped her empty sniper rifle in the bushes, and slung Reeves’ arm over her shoulder. They moved out again. “Captain, they’re trained far better than we thought. Their tactics caught us completely off guard.” Reeves said.

“It’s alright Reeves,” Meela said. “You did all you could.”

Suddenly they caught site of movement up ahead. Meela motioned for them to stop and they all crouched. “I can’t tell how many there are,” Chavez said, a little worry showing in her voice.

“I….” Suddenly gun fire erupted all around them. Meela fell to the ground trying to grab her gun and return fire. Instead of her gun Meela found a grenade. She looked at Chavez who nodded and went into a kneeling position and suddenly fired into the soldiers.

“Fire in the hole!” Meela yelled and she threw the grenade and she grabbed Reeves and started running while Chavez covered them. Meela ran blindly dragging Reeves with her. She shoved Reeves behind a group of trees and jumped after her. Then, Chavez, just seconds behind them leaped in beside Meela. Suddenly the grenade went off. The explosion rocked the trees and some dirt showered on them. Then it was all quiet. Meela sat up and glanced around her. She looked over at Reeves. “Reeves, hey, Reeves.” She knelt over her.

“She still alive?” Chavez said.

Meela took her pulse. “Yeah. I think so.”

“Well we gotta move her Captain. They’ll regroup soon.”

Meela nodded. “Go scout out ahead, I’ll follow with Reeves.”

Chavez melted into the shadows and Meela was left alone. She grabbed Reeve’s arm and pulled her up. She struggled with the dead weight of the soldier and all her equipment. She heard gunshots and yelling up ahead. Meela looked around. “Here we go Reeves.” She dropped her by a tree and pulled out her pistol and slunk forward. She saw Chavez kneeling down with a gun to her head.

“Sheiß e.” Meela said softly. She moved slowly forward. Chavez’ automatic rifle was laying a couple feet away. She needed Reeves. She would be seen if she tried to get Chavez’ rifle, but maybe…. She looked around for a guard that was further apart than the others. There. She moved back through the forest , the way she’d come and circled around until she was near the guard. She hid behind a clump of trees. When the guard moved closer, she swung her arms around and hit him full on in the face. He fell to the ground and she rolled him over on his stomach and pulled his arm around on his back. She grabbed his assault rifle, and then a grenade. “Thanks,” she said and hit him on the head with the butt of the rifle. With her new weapons she moved around back to where she could see Chavez. The man was interrogating her right here in the forest, not a very smart move.

“Where are the other members of your squad! Speak!” The man yelled at Chavez, who stayed quiet staring grimly ahead.

Meela pulled the pin out of the grenade and launched it through the trees and into a group of men. Meela ducked for cover behind some trees and hoped she didn’t kill Chavez with her rescue attempt. She pulled the assault rifle out and moved from behind the trees shooting into the group who was scattering away from the explosion. Chavez had lunged away from the man holding the gun and now had her own rifle and was retreating into the forest. Meela continued firing until she was sure Chavez was safely in the forest, then she moved away.

Meela ran softly back to where Reeves was laying. She squinted into the darkness. Reeves wasn’t there. Slowly Meela crept away from the clearing and back into the forest, where a gun was quickly pressed against her head and her hands tied. She was shoved roughly to the ground where someone kneeled over her with a gun pointed at her. Meela could just make out Reeves’ form laying a few feet away from her. The people above her were talking in swift voices, “The other one will not make it without medical attention.”

“Medical attention that we’re not required to give.”

“Yes sir.” Someone walked over to Reeves pulled out a gun and shot her in the head.

Meela dug her fingernails into the earth.

“Take that one to the base. We will continue looking for the other member.”

“Yes sir.” As the soldier pulled her up, Meela lashed out with her leg knocking him to the ground and wrenching her arm free as he fell. She ran at another hitting his stomach with her shoulder, then let her momentum carry her into a roll, she grabbed his gun and turned to fire when she felt a pain in her left calf which collapsed under her weight. Blood seeped from a bullet wound and she numbly realized that she’d heard the shot. A rough hand grabbed her and yanked her up. “Don’t try that again.” he said, then pulled her into a jeep.

Colonel Une came in to the room called base of operations, “How are they doing?” She asked Calder.

“Last I heard from them they were proceeding with Operation Red October. I haven’t heard from them in about 30 minuets.”

She frowned. “How long was radio silence supposed to be?”

“About ten minuets, while they were near the missile. Thirty at the most. I was getting ready to contact them.”

Une nodded. “Go ahead.”

“Intrepid, this is Dodge, come in.” There was nothing but static on the other side. “Intrepid, please respond.”

“What’s going on?”

“I don’t know. Something could still be interfering with radio communications…”

Colonel Une grabbed the phone, but the T.V. caught her eye. It showed an armed Mongolian standing over the body of an unmistakably dead special operations team member.

“Oh...”