Raid on Afghanistan, page 12
Two more Afghans put their heads out of the window to look outside and see what was happening. While Zeke covered his back, Nolan put a double tap through each man. Then they waited while Talley’s men blasted their way through the building.
* * *
Talley’s group heard the crash of the falling body and missile launcher upstairs, then a small scream of pain and two more crashes; the unmistakable sound of falling bodies.
“I reckon the guys outside are taking care of business for us,” Will Bryce remarked laconically.
Talley nodded. “Get the men moving. We need to search this place and finish up before that new force gets here.”
He glanced at Agnetha who was standing near the doorway, hesitating as if she was nervous about entering.
“We need your help, right now. Where would we find these materials, Ma’am? We don’t have much time.”
He nodded at Nolan who hustled her inside.
She grimaced. “Oh, yes, of course. There’s a basement room, right underneath this building. If you lift that rug at the end of the room, you’ll find a trapdoor. The stairs lead down into the workshop where all of the equipment is kept and worked on.”
“Okay. Will, you stay here. I’ll go down there with Agnetha and Carl. We’ll set a charge to destroy it all. Carl, lift that rug, let’s take a look. The rest of you men, fan out and see if Rahimi is hiding anywhere.”
PO2 Winters ran over to the end of the hallway, lifted the rug, and grinned. “Well, lookee here, these boys sure have something to hide.”
He lifted up the trapdoor. There was a light switch set into the wall at the top of the steps that led down. He switched on the overhead lights and descended into the room, Talley and Agnetha followed.
“Jesus H Christ!” Winters stopped and stared. The room was large, as large as the ground area of the house itself. Every part of the wall space was covered in shelves and racks, and each shelf was neatly labeled in Arabic script. In the center were desks and laboratory worktops and a number of machines that were not immediately identifiable.
“What does it all mean?” Talley asked the woman.
“It’s a multi-purpose facility,” she explained. “On the benches they put together the mechanisms for the IEDs, mainly they make the detonators here. The shelves are used to store the explosive components, mostly C4. Over there is the uranium for the fission device we have been working on.”
“Would that be this Plan Salah ad-Din we heard about?”
She nodded tiredly. “Yes, that is correct. Plan Salah ad-Din, they call it. I call it mass murder.” She went on to describe the store of explosives. “The C4 is an explosive that could easily be molded into any desired shape. It is also used as a precursor for nuclear detonators. The material could be pressed into gaps, cracks, holes and voids in buildings, bridges, equipment or machinery. Similarly, it could be inserted into empty shaped charge cases of the type used by military engineers. She saw their shocked faces and completely misread them.
“Plastique is very stable and insensitive to most physical shocks. It cannot be detonated by a gunshot or by dropping it onto a hard surface, so you don’t need to worry,” she smiled. “It does not explode even when set on fire or exposed to microwave radiation. Detonation can only be initiated by a combination of extreme heat and a shockwave, such as when a detonator inserted into it is fired. That is what they make here, the remote detonators for the charges.”
“Ma’am, that’s very interesting. I was more interested in the uranium.”
Chapter Six
There was total silence in the basement as he said the single word, Uranium. Agnetha Bergmann glanced around the room to a strong, steel cabinet.
“The uranium is safe enough. It’s stored in that cabinet, inside a shielded case. There’s nothing that can result in an atomic detonation. We hadn’t got that far yet, thank God.”
Talley gave a relieved sigh. “Thank Christ for that. Carl, set the charges. We’ll destroy this place as soon as we’re clear.”
“Right, Boss. I’ll embed the charges in the plastique. That’ll make it go off with a bang.”
“It’ll destroy the town,” Agnetha said with a worried tone. “A lot of people will be killed.”
“I guess it’ll dent the Al Qaeda and Taliban membership some. The uranium, what effect will it have?” Talley asked.
She stopped and thought about that one while Carl started to distribute his charges. Her expression was grim.
“It will create a radioactive cloud that will envelop the town, so we will need to evacuate everyone before the charges go off.”
“Is that right? So if the main explosion destroys the town, there’ll be no one left for us to worry about.”
She was shocked. “Lieutenant, that is inhumane. These people deserve a chance to live.”
Talley was calm, but his words fired back at her like a burst of machine gun fire.
“They gave up that chance when they did everything they could to kill American soldiers, Ma’am. It’s not my job to help keep the enemy alive, and as I understand it, this town is a Taliban stronghold. Is that correct?”
She inclined her head. “Yes it is, but…”
“There’re no buts, Ma’am. My mission is to wipe out the enemy’s fighting capability, and I won’t do that by lending them a helping hand when there’s big trouble coming their way. If I were you, I’d worry about something else.”
“What is that?”
“Your father. What will they do to him?”
She said nothing, but her frightened eyes were sufficient reply.
“Carl, finish up here, we’ll be in the hallway. Set the charges for one hour. Then come up and set a charge that’ll bring the house down first over this basement. Time it for about twenty minutes. That’ll stop them from disarming the main event when they get here.”
Winters smiled. “You got it, Boss.”
He went up the stairs, and Agnetha followed him. She gasped when she saw the body that lay on the floor.
“Who is that?”
He’d been badly beaten, his face a mass of bruises. Siddiqi was moaning softly. Dave Eisner was bent over him, giving him an injection of painkillers. He looked up at Talley.
“We found him locked in storeroom, Boss.” He shifted his gaze to Agnetha. “He’s one of ours, Ma’am, an Afghan Army officer, Major Siddiqi. He was supposed to be our guide, but they captured him. This is what your friends did to him,” he fumed.
“I’m so sorry. They’re no friends of mine,” the Swedish girl responded bitterly. “What have they done to his face?”
“They beat him badly, probably to get him to talk.”
She shuddered. “My God.”
“There ain’t no God here. I doubt there ever was in this shithole. What are we going to do with him, Boss?”
“He comes out with us. You know the way we work.”
“It won’t be easy. He’s badly hurt, so it’ll be hard to move him anywhere.”
“We’ll carry him. See if you can find something to use as a gurney. As soon as we’re clear, I’ll call for a Medevac.”
“Roger that.”
Brad Rose and Dan Moseley hurtled down the stairs and into the hallway. “There’s no sign of Rahimi. It looks like he got clean away when the shooting started.”
“Right, we need to get out of here. We’ll work out the next move when we’re clear. This place is going up like a Fourth of July celebration.”
Carl Winters stood up from where he’d just finished planting his charges. “You’re right about that. I’ve placed a small satchel charge in the first floor, and I can detonate it remotely when we’re clear. The main charge goes up in,” he looked at his watch, “fifty-eight minutes exactly. And it’ll be big, Lieutenant.”
Talley nodded. “Right.” He touched the switch on his mic. “Chief Nolan, any activity out there?”
“Not a thing. They’re either dead or hiding.”
“Okay, tell Vince we’ll rendezvous on him in about five minutes. We’re clearing out of Dodge. There’s about to be a big bang.”
“How big?”
“Let’s just say that in less than an hour, this town will be just a hole in the ground. A hole in the ground that’ll glow green.”
“You found the uranium?”
“Oh, yeah, we found it. We’re coming out now. You ready, Dave?”
Eisner looked up from where he’d been fashioning a makeshift gurney from a blanket and two ceremonial spears that had been displayed on the wall.
“I’m ready, but I’ll need help.”
Brad stepped forward. “I’ll take it.”
They lifted the gurney. Thankfully, Siddiqi had collapsed into a coma and made no sound. Talley led the way out, and Agnetha and Dan Moseley brought up the rear. Nolan and Murray joined them as they exited the building. They grinned at each other as they caught sight of Dan’s hair. Part of it had slipped out of the pakul he wore on his head, exposing the California blonde locks. He was as unlikely an Afghan as ever walked the plains and mountains of this country. When they were clear, Carl called a halt. He looked at Talley, who nodded. He hit the switch on the remote detonator, and the outer walls of the house started to collapse. It was a beautifully set charge, small and perfectly placed. There was little drama, just a ‘crack’, and the building shook. The walls slowly crumpled as the house imploded, the roof fell on top of the rubble. Carl nodded in satisfaction.
“It’ll take ‘em a time to dig down to that basement. They’ll likely start as soon as they get here, so that should interesting,” he checked his watch again. “Forty-six minutes exactly.”
“Nice job, Carl. Let’s move, everybody. We’ll pick up Vince and get the hell out of this place.”
Carl suddenly saw the men carrying Siddiqi on the gurney, and checked out his face. He shook his head. “Jesus!”
Vince Merano watched their arrival at the mill. When he was satisfied the situation was secure, he left the top of the tower and ran down the steps to meet them as they came past.
“All set, Boss. Are we outta here now?”
Nolan’s voice interrupted. “Abraham Dur, where is he? I haven’t seen him since we were at the Mayor’s house.”
Everyone shook their heads.
“Maybe he went out the way we came in?” one of the men asked hopefully.
Talley nodded. “That must be it. He wouldn’t have realized that we don’t need to make such a big deal of going out underground now that they’re either dead or running. We’ll head for the cave we jumped off from. Let’s hope we meet him there. I’ve checked the wind direction, and we’ll be upwind there, provided we’re outside of the immediate blast radius. The cave will give us some shelter from the fallout too.”
“We said we’d help him with his granddaughter,” Nolan objected. “We failed to keep our word, so I’m betting he’s still inside the town, looking for her.”
Talley stared at him. “Chief, there’s a uranium-laced explosion timed to go off in just over a half hour. It’s the equivalent of a dirty bomb, and anyone inside this town is going to die.”
“Give me ten minutes. Let me see if I can find him,” Nolan asked. “I’ll meet you at the cave.”
The Lieutenant sighed. “I’m not happy about it, but I see where you’re coming from. Call me in ten, and tell me you’re on your way out.”
“Roger that.”
Nolan started back at the double, conscious that he was running straight into a fireball timed to go off soon. He ran along the beaten earth streets of the town. Everything was silent after the firefight with the insurgents. No bystanders stopped to stare, no women in blue burqas looked around from their work; there was nothing. No children playing, not even any birds sang. He smiled to himself. In this part of the world, a bird that made its presence known was likely to end up in the pot, so birdsong was a short-lived occupation. A man stepped out of a doorway, yawning as if he’d just woken from a long sleep, but it was more likely opium. He carried an AK-47 loosely in his hand, and dulled with the drug, he only saw the running man as a fellow Afghan. He nodded at Nolan.
“Assalaam, alaikum.”
Nolan nodded a casual greeting as he drew his Sig Sauer and shot him through the heart in one swift motion. He ran on, not even pausing to check the man was dead. There was no need, if he wasn’t now, he sure would be soon. He reached Abraham’s house and stopped outside. There was the sound of voices from inside, raised voices.
He peeked in through the open door. Two men were in the room, Abraham, and a man he didn’t recognize, an Afghan. He was shouting at Dur, and the old man was shouting back, yet the unknown man was holding a gun on him, an AK-47. A one sided conversation. The armed man had his back to the door. Nolan unsafed his Sig Sauer and waited until the voice rose to a heated shout. Immediately, he crashed through the door and in a smooth, continuous motion, had the man disarmed and pinned to the ground. He looked up at Dur.
“Abraham, this town is about to explode. If you stay here, you’ll die. What was the argument about?”
“He is one of Rahimi’s men. The dog has taken my granddaughter. He said that if I gave them information about you Americans, he would make sure she was released.”
“Did you tell him what he wanted?”
Abraham spat on the floor. “That dog? Why would I do that? I owe them nothing, and I do not believe they would release her, anyway.”
“Come with me, Abraham. We’ll do our best to release her.”
Dur stared at him, his face dripping contempt. “I recall you said the same thing before, yet you did nothing.”
“Not true, Abraham. We’ve scoured the town for Rahimi and for her. If she was anywhere to be found, we’d have rescued her.”
He felt bad about lying to the old man. In truth, the girl had always been a low priority. And yet if they’d found her with Rahimi, they would have freed her. The important factor now was that the elderly Afghan bought his story and came out from this death trap. Finally, the old man nodded.
“Very well, American, I will come with you, and we will find my granddaughter. I have one task to complete here before I go.”
“You’d better make it quick. We’re running out of time.”
“It will be quick.”
He drew the long knife he carried in his sash and pushed Nolan away from the prisoner. The Seal let him do it, killing an unarmed man was distasteful, yet they couldn’t leave the guy here to warn the approaching fighters. Dur slashed once, across the man’s neck, and blood spurted on the floor. He turned to Nolan.
“I am finished here. We can go.”
They hurtled down the old ladder into the tunnel. Nolan almost carried Abraham along. He’d checked his watch, and they had less than five minutes before all hell broke loose. He wasn’t too worried about the explosion, not down in the tunnel where they ‘d be protected from the worst of the blast. But the uranium, that was a different matter. Whatever the deadly material touched would receive, in effect, a death sentence. They ran on, Abraham was tiring badly, showing his age. Dur grumbled and moaned that it was too fast for him, he was an old man, and he needed more time. Nolan ignored him. Time was the one thing they didn’t have. They reached the end of the tunnel and squeezed out into the open air. Hundreds of yards ahead lay the cave and safety, yet when he checked his watch, there was less than two minutes left before the countdown reached zero, and the bomb exploded. They were running along the narrow gully; ahead was the open patch of ground they’d need to cover to reach the cave. He dimly realized Talley was calling him on the commo.
“Chief Nolan, what’s your twenty?”
He threw Abraham to the bottom of the gully and keyed the mic. “This is Nolan. We’re several hundred yards from you, but it’s too far to make it. The old man is about finished. We’re in a kind of shelter, so we’ll have to ride it out here.”
“If you’re sure, Chief.”
“Yeah, I think we’ll be fine.”
“Wait one, Chief,” Talley added. After a few seconds, his voice returned. “Agnetha says to cover your bodies with loose earth, dust, anything, just to block the worst of the radioactive dust if any of it reaches you. It’s not much, but it’s better than nothing. You can shake the dust off after, and hopefully any of the radioactive particles that land will shake off with it. That’s assuming that any comes near you, you never know. The wind is blowing south, so you could well be fine.”
“Acknowledged, Boss. We’re going to ground. Out.”
He relayed the instructions to Abraham who shrugged fatalistically at first, but when Nolan reminded him he’d be no use to his granddaughter dead, he started throwing loose sand and dust over his clothes and exposed skin, both men trying to burrow down into the ground. Lastly, they buried their heads, up to the eyes and nostrils. Then the town erupted.
* * *
The platoon was sheltering in the cave, and they watched the beginning of the explosion as smoke and flames flew up into the air, followed by the massive blast.
“Everyone, down, close your eyes!” Talley shouted.
They threw themselves flat as the enormous quantity of explosives in the basement store went up, sending out a monstrous pressure wave that destroyed all before it. Chunks of masonry were hurled hundreds of feet into the air, and a huge cloud of smoke and dust completely enveloped the town in a dark and sinister fog. They gave it several minutes to allow the worst of the effects to die down. When they looked again, the town resembled Berlin after the bombing during World War Two. Some buildings still stood, but only just. Everything was smashed and broken, and no one was in any doubt it would be a long time before Adasabad could be made habitable. Talley made way for Agnetha to look out at the destruction. She’d shelved her earlier objection about unnecessary loss of life.
