Baghdad
1441 Words
Ah yes, Baghdad, the beautiful city which was formerly known as Madinat-al-Salam. Ironically, Madinat-al-Salam translates to ‘City of Peace’. And peace was the last word you would use to describe Baghdad. It had been a war zone for years now, due to its strategic and economic importance. The terrorists were at war with the government all over the country, but it was this city which had taken the most damage.
The terrorists wouldn’t let the civilians move out of the war zone because as soon as the city was clear of civilians, the government would bomb it. The trick worked, and the government decided to ignore the multi billion dollars worth of air assets and fought the terrorists using ground units. The terrorists had a clear advantage; they knew the terrain, they were used to the extremely hot climate and continuous violence and most of all, they had no moral code. They would bomb army bases at least two times a year and kill civilians just because they 'suspected' that the person was a spy. Bottom line, Baghdad was f****d, and so were our heroes who just entered it. And to make matters worse, they had never been to a war zone before. Sure, they had been briefed about it, but you can't learn to swim just by reading a book. Wars don't have a pattern, you don't fight a war, you survive it. You have to face the primal fears. Anyway, let's look at the silver lining, they were the best fighters in that world. This pretty much evens the odds.
“Turn off the headlights and drive slow. Why the f**k did we have to move out during the night?!” Tony ordered Gabriel and the latter followed.
Distant machine gun fire broke out as they turned into an alley. They could see bright muzzle flashes at the bridge connecting the two hostile sectors of the city. After some time, the city went quite again. The whole city was dark, not a single light to be seen. It was a ghost town full of people.
“How much farther?” Emma asked.
She heard murmurs inside the houses as they passed by.
“It’s on the other side of the city. We will have to cross the bridge, IF we survive that far.” Gabriel said.
And then, the thing that they feared most happened. The eerie silence of the night broke and they heard heavy engine noise behind them, and before they could react, a blaze of armor-piercing bullets tore up the road behind them. Someone from the houses had given them up. And now they had two armored SUVs on their tail. The fire was coming from a turret mounted on the walking monsters.
“Speed up, now!” Tony exclaimed and held his head down to get out of harm’s way.
Gabriel pushed the pedal to the floor and drove as fast as he could in erratic patterns in order to distract the machine gun fire. But let’s face the facts here- they were in a wearied down cheap pickup, while their pursuers had one of the most powerful car engines ever to be made. The hostiles were inevitably gaining on them, and when no one suggested a plan, Emma decided to do something about it.
“Will, get me an AWM with 8X zoom capability.” She said to her watch assistant.
“You can’t do that Emma! Killing soldiers on this side of wall can put us under a lot of risk. We might never get to the other side of the wall.” Tony said.
“This is a goddamn warzone, genius. Even if they are dead, the terrorists will think that it was a covert strike by the army. Do you really expect to outrun them in this bullock cart?” Emma put the cards on the table as they were.
“She’s right, boss. This is their area, so even if we successfully outrun them here, they will eventually find us. So we can just kill them and let the government take the heat.
Also Emma, don’t use the lord’s name in vain.” Gabriel supported and corrected Emma at the same time.
“Look at this place and the horror inflicted on the innocents by their very brothers. Do you still believe there is someone up there?” Emma said gravely.
Tony took a moment to think. He looked at the metallic alligators gaining on them, and then he looked at Emma and finally nodded in support of her plan.
Emma didn’t waste any time. She positioned the rifle on the roof of the pickup and peeped her head out of the sunroof.
“Gabriel, drive straight and don’t move the car until I say so.” She yelled.
Gabriel followed the order and the car moving in crazy patterns became as still in the air as a stone is in the ocean. Emma looked through the scope. The fire was coming from the turret mounted on the top of the SUVs, and there was a small opening in the armor, from where the gunners were trying to lock on the pickup. As soon as Emma spotted this opening, she estimated the distance and wind speed to get the perfect shot.
After thirteen seconds, Emma held her breath and placed her index finger on the trigger. And after three long seconds, she pulled the trigger. The shot tore through the air and barely missed the cavity. The bullet landed 2 inches off course, and the machine gunner was alarmed. He disappeared inside and came up again with a RPG.
“s**t! Drive fast, they got an RPG!” Emma screamed and scoped in again.
This time, she didn’t calculate air resistance or distance. It was pure instinct that was developed from months of training. She held her breath and pulled the trigger again. Sweat dripped down her forehead and she felt like suffocating as she felt the gun’s recoil on her shoulder and saw the bullet fly away. You and I might think that this was a stupid shot, and even months of prestigious training cannot make someone that good. Well, in this case, we are absolutely right.
The bullet landed nowhere near the SUV, let alone the turret. But the enemy soldier was not so stupid, he took a lot more time and precise aiming before he fired the rocket. But he missed anyway. The rocket hit the ground at a safe distance behind the pickup. I guess the terrorist forgot that rockets aren’t as fast as bullets.
Finally, as Emma was trying to land her third shot, the machine gun fire caught up with them, bursting the car's left tire. The rusty machine was out of control and Gabriel barely managed to get in inside a gulley in order to escape the automatic fire.
"Get the f**k out! Weapons hot, I'm throwing a grenade while all of you start running." Tony yelled and threw a grenade to cover their exit. The grenade exploded just as they reached the end of the gulley and from the impact of the explosion, it felt like one of the cars was blown.
"We're gone. There's nowhere to go and they are on our toes." Olivia said and took out her pistol when they stopped running after a while.
"I say we stand and fight. We have the best technology at our disposal and we can easily hold them off." Gabriel said, sweating his ass off.
"Except, our mission is not to fight them. It is to rescue our agents." Tony said, thinking about a plan as he heard tires screeching a few blocks away.
"Get ready! They're almost here." Tony said, taking a deep breath.
"Amreeki! Inside quickly. Killers coming to shoot you, inside now or die!" Someone said from a window above them.
They looked up and saw a middle aged woman wearing a burkha. She was signaling at her house's door and telling them to hurry in broken english.
The gate of the house slowly opened and after a moment of hesitation, the team figured what the hell, it's not like they had another choice.
"Relaxing now! You safe from killers. Now hide behind wall because they come and check." A man, presumably the woman's husband, said.
"Come on hermano, what choice do we have?" Gabriel said and walked inside the secret compartment behind the wall. The others followed soon enough.
- Writer
