The ISIS Gambit

VI

“We’ve got some activity. This could be our friends. Here comes a truck, looks like we have several people in back, two in the cab,” Arielle radioed to Jonathan, who lay hidden scouting out the road junction that led from Tadmur prison to the Palmyra airport.

“I see ‘em,” Jonathan replied. “They’re headed right towards me.” Both remained completely hidden in the predawn darkness: Arielle in a grove of trees just over a hundred yards from the prison entrance and Jonathan in the remains of a demolished building that offered an excellent view of both the prison entrance and the airport.

“Here comes another truck. Looks like the first one might be an escort. And, there’s a third one. Okay, we’ve got a scout and a trail vehicle for escorts.”

“That kind of rules out the airport, doesn’t it?” Chaos broke in. He’d been monitoring the radio from their beat up 4Runner parked in a neighborhood just a few blocks away. “They wouldn’t need an escort for that short of a trip, would they?”

“Wouldn’t think so,” Ave replied. “Okay, all three went past the turnoff for the airport. Everyone up for a road trip? Looks like we’re headed north. Any ideas where they might be headed?” he asked, more rhetorically than anything.

“Raqqa,” Arielle flatly stated the obvious. “We have to stop them.”

“Arielle, I’m on the way,” Chaos added, letting her know he’d be picking her up.

“Jonathan, I’m two minutes out,” Ave called out as well.

“Our job is just recon, unless a golden opportunity presents itself,” Arielle reminded everyone. “Any chance we can get ahead of them before they get out of town?”

“There’s a bypass that might work, but we need to hurry,” Chaos advised Arielle as she hopped in the 4Runner. “I don’t think they’ll be taking this as it cuts through a few neighborhoods and I would think they’ll want to stay on the main drag.”

“Ave, stay on the main route but don’t get too close to them,” Arielle radioed.

“Roger that.”

“Okay, we made it past them,” Arielle radioed back to Ave and Jonathan as they turned onto the main route to Raqqa. “We’re on the highway out of town and I can see all three trucks behind us,” Arielle advised. “We’ve got them between us.”

“Yeah, but we’re slightly outnumbered and the nearest help is a couple hours away.”

“Chaos, is there a good spot to set up an ambush on this route?” Jonathan asked.

“Not really. It’ll be dark for a about another hour but other than that, it’s dessert the entire way.”

“I think I might have an idea,” Chaos said to Arielle. “There’s going to be a checkpoint up ahead in about fifteen miles and they can’t see you without a burka. It’s still early enough that I wouldn’t think there’ll be too many goons at the checkpoint. Here’s the way I see this….”

Twenty minutes later, Chaos and Arielle reached the anticipated checkpoint. However, instead of donning a burka, Arielle wore her cargo pants and a charcoal gray print Under Armour sports bra. Her long hair was completely disheveled, her sports bra had been torn so bad it barely covered her breasts, and her pants were filthy with her back and shoulder scraped up. It clearly appeared as if she’d been assaulted, with more to come. As they approached the check point, she kept her hands behind her implying Chaos had taken her prisoner.

“Okay, looks like we only have the two guards.”

“Yeah, this part should be pretty easy,” Arielle acknowledged. “Be on the watch for a third one once the shooting starts — and there he is. Okay, you take the one on your side. I’ll take the one on mine and the one in the guard house — we can’t let them get the word out.”

“What do we have here?” the guard asked Chaos, while casting a leering eye at Arielle in the passenger seat beside him.

And just as Chaos started to answer, Arielle pulled out her nine millimeter H & K VP9 and put two rounds into the guard’s chest at the front passenger’s side corner of their 4Runner and then charged the guard shack about ten yards off the roadway. Fortunately, this guard came out to help his friends rather than radio for help. She caught him just as he emerged from the shack with two rounds to the chest, as well.

“You good?” she asked Chaos.

“I’m good,” he replied. “Jonathan, we’ve taken the checkpoint just a few miles ahead of you. We’ll let the first escort vehicle through.…” Chaos continued outlining their hastily devised plan.

“Copy that. We’ll be ready. See you in a few,” came the reply.

Arielle quickly donned one of the guards’ clothes to hide her identity as the escort truck approached rather quickly.

“Papers. What are you doing at this early hour?” Chaos asked rather smugly.

“On the way to Raqqa. We’re escorting four prisoners in the truck coming up behind us.”

“Very well. It should be a clear and uneventful drive for you. Carry on,” Chaos replied.

“Okay, that one was easy. Sounds like confirmation that our friends are in the next rig. Jonathan, can you tell how much distance there is between the trailing escort and our friends?” Chaos radioed.

“It’s hard to tell. We’ve got both vehicles in sight and the trailing escort is only about a hundred meters in front of us. They’re probably about three hundred meters behind our friends.”

“Okay, the checkpoint isn’t in the best spot. It’s pretty much in the middle of a straightaway for about five miles in either direction. I think I see all three of you approaching now. We’ll need you to close the trailing vehicle and keep them occupied while we deal with our friend’s vehicle.”

“Roger.”

“We’re going to have to act fast,” Arielle noted. “They’re going to see us as we open up on them. That first rig is only a couple minutes out. I figure we’ve got less than two minutes until that first one returns and maybe twenty seconds until the third one gets to us.”

“Not very good odds,” Chaos replied.

“We need to do something, though,” Arielle agreed as she switched magazines in her pistol, wanting a full magazine for the anticipated firefight, and slinging her M-4 around her neck. “We can’t waste any time talking with these guys. Here they come.”

“Agreed. It’s show time,” Chaos said as the truck pulled up to him. As soon as the truck stopped, both of them essentially executed the two in the cab of the truck.

“Okay, boys, the word’s out. That last rig just called their friends in front to get back here right away,” Arielle let Ave and Jonathan know. “We need you up here, NOW!”

“On the way,” came the reply as one of the guards in back of the stopped truck jumped out and took a quick look around the driver’s side of the rig. Chaos took two quick shots at him, with one round hitting the guard’s left arm and missing with the other. The guard quickly realized he’d be safer back in the company of his prisoners and tried jumping back in just as Arielle came around and hit him in the leg as he crawled back in. The headlights of the approaching truck forced both Chaos and Arielle to fan out on either side to remain in the dark as the ISIS truck came to within fifty yards of their friend’s truck. The trailing vehicle — and its occupants — found themselves in a terrible kill box as Chaos and Arielle fired at them from opposite front corners while Jonathan fired at them from the rear. However, this fortunate situation for the Sayaret team only lasted a few seconds as the guards in the truck quickly realized the situation and began firing at both Arielle and Chaos, driving Chaos closer to Ave and Jonathan while Arielle ran to the cover of the guard shack.

“Ave’s down,” Jonathan radioed to his friends.

“How bad?” Chaos followed up.

“Took a round in the chest. I’m still here… hurt’s like hell,” came the soft reply.

“On the way,” Chaos called out as he started to circle around towards the driver’s side of the four by four.

“Here comes the scout vehicle,” Arielle advised as she hopped in their 4Runner and brought it around perpendicular to the trailing escort vehicle and then instantly turned on the headlights, bathing that rig with her high beam headlights and unleashing her M-4 on full auto on the entire rig as she stepped away from the 4Runner. The scout rig came barreling in with four of the guards firing their AK-74s on full auto as if there was no shortage of ammunition.

“Ah, Jeez! I’m hit,” Jonathan cried out.

“How bad?” Arielle called back, as the scout vehicle pulled in between the trailing escort and the prisoner truck.

“One round in the arm, another in the thigh. Damn! This really hurts! I don’t see a lot of blood but this hurts.”

“How’s Ave?” Arielle asked, as she started heading towards Jonathan while still trying to stay out of the headlight wash.

“He’s bad. Not sure if he’s going to make it,” Chaos replied.

“There go our guys,” Jonathan radioed as a guard from the scout vehicle ran towards the driver’s door on the prisoner truck, pulled out the dead driver and started driving off, followed in quick order by the scout. All firing from the trailing escort rig had ceased when Arielle raked it over with her M-4.

“I’ll give our friends in Raqqa a head’s up that they’re on their way up there and should be there in a few hours,” Arielle told Chaos. “Jonathan, let’s get you and Ave in our rig and get out of here.”

“Yeah, ours is just too shot up, even for this country,” Jonathan agreed. “Ave’s going to need some help. He’s in bad shape.”

“I’ve got Ave,” Chaos replied. “We need to get out of here, and fast. Do we have an escape route planned?”

“We really don’t. There’s a place southeast of the Baghdad Café that is still well east of Damascus that could serve as a good evac sight.”

“Okay, I’ve got a better idea. We have a Special Forces base at Al Tanf on the border with Iraq and Jordan. We can be there in about an hour and a half — and you’ve seen what an SF medic can do. I’ll give Jim a call and let him know we’re on the way. He’ll let them know to expect us just after daybreak. You drive. I’ll tend to Ave and Jonathan.”

“That’d be great. Let’s get going,” Arielle replied as she threw a grenade into their abandoned rig.”