“Keep firing, hit that fucker! He’s killing our people!” Talley shouted.

  They needed no urging. Every man was pouring out fire at a huge rate. More grenades popped out of the launchers, HK416s fired repeatedly, trying to find a weakness in the armored hull. Kyle Nolan and Vince Merano used their scopes to seek out chinks in the Iranian armor, and opened vent; a tiny observation slit. It was the DsHK that finished off the wounded truck. A hail of heavy bullets smashed into the toppled Renault. They could see the truck being tossed around by the intense kinetic energy generated by the colossal firepower of the heavy machine gun. The cannon started to fire. Evidently, they’d reloaded or cleared a jam, and huge holes appeared in the metal body. And then one of their grenades found a weak spot. Incredibly, it was the APCs own ordnance; a four barreled smoke launcher mounted to the side of the turret. One of the grenades sailed almost straight down, clanged against the rim of the launcher, and then toppled in. A second later, it went off with a huge roar, and the firing stopped.

  There was silence for a few seconds, then two quick explosions as the final two grenades landed on top of the hull and exploded, and the silence returned. Nolan was the first to recover.

  “Will, take two men and get over to the truck and look for survivors. Brad, come with me. We need to make sure the armor is finished and there are no survivors to worry us. Vince, the rest of you, cover us. There could be more of the bastards.”

  Without waiting, he ran forward and back up the hill to where the APC was burning. The smell was appalling in the hot desert night, a combination of burning oil, rubber and flesh. When they got close, it was obvious that the Boragh would not present a further threat to them. Its next destination would only be the scrap heap. And the mortuary. He looked across to where the three Seals were examining the wreckage. The big black man looked up, saw Nolan, and grimly shook his head.

  “Christ, it can’t be!” Brad shouted in anguish. “They can’t be gone. Fuck it, it’s impossible!”

  Nolan turned to stare at the younger man and reacted fast to head off any hysteria.

  “Brad, get back to the rest of the men and help set up a defensive perimeter.

  They’re gone, and we’re still alive. We’ve got a job to do here, so keep it together. Check your weapon, are you loaded?”

  The return to routine calmed Brad Rose enough to make him see sense. He snapped out the magazine, examined it, and snapped in a new one.

  “I was nearly out. Sorry, Chief.”

  “Okay, now get down there and keep your eyes and ears peeled. I’ll go see Will.”

  Brad nodded and walked off. He walked slowly, his footsteps heavy. Nolan went down to where Will and his men were lifting bodies out of the ruined truck. When he got near, the stench of death began to grow strong. Will looked up as he arrived.

  “They’re all gone, Chief. That cannon chewed ‘em up something bad, and anything it missed, that 12.7mm finished off.”

  A Seal dragged out another body. The face was impossible to identify, just a shredded mass of blood and tissue. Nolan almost gagged; the uniform was still smoking, singeing the flesh even more.

  “Are they all like that one?”

  “Pretty much, yeah.”

  “We have to find somewhere to bury them. We can’t take them with us.”

  “And then?”

  “And then we come back for them, as soon as the mission is complete. At a guess, I’d say we’d need to mount a covert operation. We’re close to the Afghan border. One way or the other, these boys are going home.”

  “Amen to that.”

  Talley walked over to join them. “We’re secure back there, provided we don’t run into another of those mothers. What about here?”

  Nolan explained about the bodies.

  “We need some way to hide the bodies until we can get them back.”

  Talley looked anxious. “They’re not fools in that place. It’s one of the most heavily guarded facilities in this part of Iran. They’ll have seen and heard the gunfire and explosions, and they’ll be out here to investigate soon.”

  Nolan shook his head. “They may be fanatical Muslims, but most of ‘em are not rushing to go to paradise. They’ll wait until dawn, so I reckon we have a few hours. Time to stash the bodies and move on.”

  The Lieutenant grimaced. “Move where? The mission’s bust, and you know it. I’ve lost half my command, and we don’t have enough men to press home any kind of an attack.”

  “We can still light up the targets for the cruise missiles,” the Chief pointed out.

  “With what? Flashlights? The laser target designators were both in this truck. If we look in there, all we’ll find is broken circuit boards and lumps of wire.” He stopped, as he saw the Chief’s stubborn expression. “Look, Chief, I know how you feel. I feel the same way. But we have to face facts, and those facts are telling me it’s time to head for the hills.”

  “Can we talk about it, Boss? I dunno, it doesn’t seem right. We’ve come this far, and…” He waved his hand in the direction of the growing pile of corpses.

  Talley looked at them. “Exactly, we’ve come this far, and half the men are dead. Let’s get them hidden and move out of here before they send a patrol out. I’m not sure they’ll wait until dawn.”

  * * *

  Two hours later, they were sheltering in rock pile two miles from the site of the battle. Talley had gone quiet, obviously pondering the enormity of what he perceived as his failure. Nolan passed him a flask of water, and he drank automatically, not noticing the liquid pouring down his throat.

  “It’s not your fault, Boss.”

  “Tell that to the families of those guys who were killed,” he snapped bitterly.

  The other men looked away in embarrassment. Could he have avoided it? It was a hard one to call. Monday morning quarterbacking was a futile activity. They were Navy Seals, trained for war, and in a war, men got killed.

  “It is a pity about the laser target designators,” David Meir murmured. “Without them, the mission is over, regardless of how many men we lost.”

  Nolan looked across at the sole remaining Israeli. It was strange. He’d always known them to be tough fighters, and sometimes it seemed as if the whole country were trained to the level of Special Forces. First off, the guy had been reluctant to ride in a box van, claiming claustrophobia. Now, he was enthusiastic to pull out, without even discussing the options. He nodded at Meir.

  “I hear you, David. Tell that to the families of the guys killed.”

  Meir recognized the sarcasm in the reply and glared at Nolan. Then he got up and walked away. Something bothered Nolan, chewed at his insides. He realized what it was; he didn’t like Meir, not at all. He’d contributed little to the mission and wanted to pull out at the first opportunity. He felt oddly disappointed. The State of Israel had not fought through more than sixty years of war with men like him. But fortunately, the decision wasn’t his, whether to pull out or not. It was up to Talley, and there was plenty to talk about. The Lieutenant switched on the encrypted commo and began the process of making contact with Helmand.

  Will joined him, looking thoughtful. Nolan nodded a greeting, sat down, and looked at the remainder of the depleted Platoon. Talley and himself, Will, Vince Merano, Brad Rose. Zeke, Dave Eisner, Dan Moseley. And Meir. Nine men in all. And then a miracle happened. They grabbed for their weapons as a solider appeared from behind the rocks. David Meir, as if by instinct, snatched out his handgun and ratcheted a round into the breech.

  “Hold your fire!” Nolan shouted.

  Abdul Hussein limped into the middle of the group. He was unarmed, except for a sidearm in a holster strapped to his belt. His head was badly cut, and blood ran down his face. His pants’ leg had a huge rip in it, and more blood dripped down onto his desert boot. But he was alive.

  “Abdul, you’re alive! How the hell did you survive?”

  The Arab limped up to them. “When Avrim saw the Iranian APC coming toward us, he steered away from it, and told me to jump out and open the doors to allow the rest of the men to escape from the truck. But I failed.” He looked away, and when he looked back at them, Nolan saw that his eyes were filled with tears. “I struck my head on a rock, and everything went black. When I regained consciousness, the truck had gone past, and it was too late. It was my fault. They are all dead because of me.”

  Will leapt to his feet and took hold of the man’s jacket. “Don’t be a damned fool. Those men are dead because they were shot up by Iranian armor. You did your best. Put it behind you and move on. You’re alive, Abdul, that’s what matters. It’s good news.”

  But Meir bore an angry look. As if the miraculous survival of the Arab was anything but good news.

  Talley switched off the set and folded down the lightweight dish aerial. They watched and waited expectantly for a clue to their fate.

  “They’re not saying yes, and they’re not saying no, although they’re advising a pull-out unless the situation changes radically. They’re pretty vague. It’s up to me, I guess. It’s my decision.”

  “Fucking cowards,” Will murmured.

  Nolan nodded. As usual, the deskbound warriors were avoiding any kind of a decision that may rebound on them later. Leaving it to Talley meant that the Lieutenant could be blamed afterwards if things went wrong. They would simply claim they’d advised him to pull out. And if Talley decided to go on, they’d take the credit for not forcing him to pull out. Whatever went down, they’d be seen to be on the side of the angels. Talley nodded tiredly at Will’s comment.

  “I know where you’re coming from, Will. But like it or not, this is what we have to play with. I’m inclined to get out. We’re short on men and equipment. If anyone has any ideas, I’m listening. But you must understand, the final decision is mine. I don’t want anyone else in the firing line.”

  “We have to pull out,” Meir said angrily. “It would be suicide to go on.”

  “Maybe,” he nodded. “Chief?”

  Nolan shook his head. “I don’t know, Boss. I’ll just say this. We lost a lot of good men, and I don’t like the idea of giving those camel jockeys a victory over the Seals. I guess that left to me, I’d say we go and burn their tails for what they did, and finish the mission.”

  “Even if it is, as David Meir says, suicide?”

  “I reckon we’ve been there ever since we joined the Seals. They never said it’d be easy. I’d like to go home with more than just a long list of casualties. I say we go on and ace the fuckers.”

  There was a general murmur of agreement. Talley looked at PO1 Bryce.

  “What do you think, Will? I’m not ordering anyone to go on, commonsense says we should look at pulling out now.”

  “I’m with the Chief. We pull out now, we hand these bastards a victory. It doesn’t feel right, Boss. Not right at all. Besides, since when did Navy Seals ever get paid to use commonsense?”

  “You’ll all be killed!” Meir shouted, getting to his feet. “For God’s sake, can’t you see that? We’re finished.” He turned and walked to his fellow Israeli. “Abdul, you were lucky to survive at all. You see that we have pull out, don’t you?”

  The Arab looked up at him. “All I can see, David, is that truck exploding when they hit it, and I was lying there injured and unable to move or to fight back. Now they say, what should we do? I say hit them when he have the chance.”

  Meir shook his head and stomped away a short distance, muttering, “You’re crazy, all of you. You want to die, go ahead and do it.”

  A silence fell over the men. Finally, Talley looked around at each man.

  “I think what the Chief says, and Abdul, is right. We should hit them, finish the mission, and get some kind of a result for the sacrifice of our people. We’re going in. I’ll contact them and let them know. We’ll need plenty of backup.”

  “We haven’t any LTDs, Boss,” Vince Merano said quietly. “We’ll need some way of guiding in the cruise missiles now that we’ve lost the explosives. There’s no other way of destroying that facility.”

  Talley looked at Zeke Murray, their electronics and commo expert.

  “Zeke, any ideas on that one?”

  Murray looked thoughtful but eventually nodded.

  “You’ve all heard of Broken Arrow?”

  “The code for a nuclear emergency?” Talley replied, puzzled.

  Zeke shook his head. “It is used for some nuclear emergencies, but originally it had nothing to do with nukes. ‘Broken Arrow’ was used by the commander in the field when their position was overrun. They called for aircraft to aim directly on their position. Happened in Vietnam, at the battle of La Drang.”

  Talley looked worried. “You want them to lob a couple of cruise missiles on our heads?”

  “Not at all, no. We can plant our encrypted satcom inside the facility and use its direction finder to guide them in. We’ll be long gone when those missiles hit.”

  The Lieutenant nodded. “Yeah, that could work. Okay, I’m not happy about leading you in on this one. I’m going to ask for a show of hands. I’ll tell you now. I’m going in. But if anyone wants to head out for the border, that’s no problem, and it won’t be held against you. This is a volunteer only mission, and we’ll be fighting as much to avenge those friends of ours who were killed as to complete the mission. Who wants to go with me?”

  Nolan put his hand up, and Will. Then one by one, the rest of the survivors of Bravo Platoon put up their hands. Brad Rose spoke for all of them.

  “No bunch of rags are gonna blow up our guys and get away with it. I say we pay them a visit and show them the error of their ways.”

  Talley nodded, and then Abdul put up his hand.

  “I will go too. I am an Arab, a Muslim, but the State of Israel gave me a home when I needed one. These Iranians are not Muslims, they’re scum. They deserve to die. And Avrim Cohen was my friend. I will avenge his name.”

  “Is that the Arab way?” David Meir sneered. “Go and get yourself killed in the name of revenge? The Palestine Liberation Organization have been doing that for decades, and all they have to show for it is a growing pile of bodies.”

  Abdul stared at him. “Is not ‘an eye for an eye’ a passage from the Jewish Torah, David? Part of the Old Testament?”

  Meir scowled and went to walk away, but Talley called him back.

  “David, what will you do? Are you planning to head for the border?”

  He shook his head. “I think it is crazy, but if you’re all committed to going, I will go with you. Count me in.”

  “Good.” He checked his wristwatch. “We’re running out of time. We have four hours of darkness left. If we move out now, we can get to the village before dawn.”

  “Won’t they be alerted?” Meir asked. “We could be walking straight into a trap.”

  It was Nolan who supplied the answer. “It’s not likely. They’ll assume that anyone that was involved in this dust up will be long gone. The last place they’ll expect us to be is knocking down on their door. And besides, we have an advantage that they don’t have.”

  The Israeli looked curious. “What’s that?”

  “We’re Navy Seals.”

  * * *

  Talley reported back to Helmand and advised them to have the cruise missiles on standby, ready to lock onto the signal emitted by their encrypted satcom. Then he packed away the set and checked the men. They were ready to go. He nodded, satisfied.

  “Let’s move off, time isn’t on our side. If we’re not in and out before dawn, well, you know the score. Let’s go.”

  Vince Merano took point, and Nolan brought up the rear. Abdul was still suffering from his wounds, and he quickly fell back where the Chief helped him keep up.

  “You should think about waiting this one out, Abdul. You’re in no shape to fight a battle,” he warned.

  The Arab shook his head. “Avrim saved my life on two occasions. I owe him a debt. Besides, you have pride in your unit. I am an Israeli. We do not give in easily.”

  Nolan grinned, admiring the man’s bravery. He was breathing in short pants and was obviously in intense pain. He grabbed the man's arm as he stumbled for the third time.

  “David Meir is an Israeli. He doesn’t seem to feel the same way as you do.”

  Abdul grimaced. “He has not had to fight for everything the way I have. He is a native born Sabra. I had to contend with constant suspicion because of my Arab race.”

  “How do you feel about fighting your own people? Muslims, I mean..”

  “They are not Muslims, these Iranians. Most of them, anyway. They’re thieves and murderers. I feel about fighting them the same way, as I would feel about fighting thieves and murderers anywhere, no matter what religion they proclaim. Israel is my home. If Iran overcame Israel, they would turn it into an hellhole, ruled by a religious dictator.”

  He stopped speaking as Vince’s voice came into their earpieces.

  “Sentry up ahead. I’ll take him down.”

  They heard the ‘phut’ of the sound suppressed Mk11 SWS rifle, followed by the distinctive noise of a body crashing to the ground. Vince ran forward, and as Nolan watched through the night vision goggles, made sure his victim was dead.

  “All clear, we can go on, but we need to move slower. This guy won’t have been alone,” Vince said over the commo. They kept moving and stopped again at a command from Talley. They’d arrived at Goldiz.

  They were crouched behind a low wall, next to a shepherd’s hut that overlooked the village in a slight depression in the ground. The first houses were only two hundred yards ahead. Two soldiers stood guard, manning a movable post that blocked the entrance to the village. A few yards back from the guards, a military jeep pulled up. A few moments later, a truck carrying a score of infantry arrived. Their officer chatted to the guards, and then the vehicles turned around and drove off, obviously patrolling inside the perimeter of Goldiz.