Rival of Atlantis

IV

                                                                                       PART 3

                                                                               Dangerous Past

9:01PM

March 21, 2018

Abangares, Gunacaste, Costa Rica

A FULL MOON IS HANGING OVER a sky decorated with fine lines of clouds that looked like an ascending stairs to heaven. The heavenly body seems a fleeting entity that brought life to the clouds that is blown to the northern direction. Down the woody landscape, a man in grey ski mask looked up on it as if saying silent prayers before donning night vision goggles.

Now with the goggles before his eyes, he looked complete. Aside from the ski mask, he also wears a pair of tactical pants, longs-sleeved round neck shirt and gloves that are all gray. He also carries a small backpack of same color. A sheeted knife is fastened on his belt just next to a holstered pistol and two clips. He carries a submachine g*n known as MP5 complete with all the suppressor, scopes and laser sights. Anyone who would give him a study will come in a conclusion that he is some kind of a soldier.

He looked at his wristwatch and wrapped a gloved hand around its face before pressing one of the protruding buttons at its sides. The wrist watch glowed into a blue light displaying a face of analog hands and digits. The watch says it is 9:01PM.

He tapped on a shrub which eventually unfolded into a human being. The man, who was in a ducking position moments ago under a cloak protruded by artificial small branches and leaves, revealed that he is fashioned on same way as the first man, but he carries a rifle, an M4A1, equipped with a silencer and all the advanced tools for g*n gizmos.

The first man made two clicking sounds with his mouth covered with the ski mask. In an instant, three shadows crept from the dark who are brandishing different types of assault weapons with stubby silencers. These men were dressed in the same fashion like the first two.

As all men gathered around, the first man, presumed to be the leader, raised his left hand in a gesture that showed five unfolded fingers and then closed it in a fist. All the men around nodded in agreement. Then he gestures an index finger forward and pulled the hand back with a thumb pointing to his back. He waited for all of them to acknowledge before he raised his index finger up the air and made a circling gesture.

Upon the command, all men bolted out of their hiding place down a bulldozed road that leads towards a range of mountains. They treaded carefully on the muddy road, their weapons swinging to the sides, aimed to nothing but towering trees, as if expecting heavy resistance. Their trek ended when the leader called a halt. He raised a balled fist above his head and all five of them went crouching low. Four of the men have their weapons aimed forward; the last man crouching at the back of formation has his g*n aimed where they came from, but his weapon was pointed unto the nothingness of the night.

In a distance, a wire of fence is shimmering in the dark under the moonlight. The aluminum wires were freshly installed and looks like ice glowing in the dark. The gate, where the road ended, is framed with welded metal tubes while a mesh of aluminum wires is made as its face. A cubicle that should be a guardhouse is near the gate. A quick study at the guard's bunk revealed that it has looks like it was built in haste.

One of the men fetched something from his backpack, binoculars. He pushed the night vision goggles up and trained the gadget at hand towards the guardhouse. Even though equipped with a night-vision, that nothing as small as insect would not go unnoticed, he still needs a different technology to make sure that every move is done with precision.

See, don't be seen. The leader thought as one of his subordinates studied the situation up ahead. Kill, don't be killed.

The binoculars are not as ordinary as any. It is in fact equipped with a thermo-vision technology. As he trained the equipment ahead, the world he saw through it was like those of the negative of films, black and white and where there is heat, there is reddish hue. The hotter the thing, the redder it is and no amount of cover can hide a living thing.

"Two guards," the man with binoculars said in a raspy voice barely a decibel above whisper. "One overlooking the gate, the other sitting before a table."

Without delay, the leader raised two fingers. He was about to finish the command through hand gestures when the man on the binoculars spoke again. "Wait, there's a dog by the side. Good thing it is asleep, or it may have caught our scents."

The leader added a finger to the already raised two. He gestured his hand forward and in an instant, one of them tapped the last guy who was still facing the back. Three men, except the leader and Mr. Binoculars, moved nearer the fence, crouched low so they cannot be detected. About fifty feet away, they stopped as if on cue. One man unslung a long weapon hanging by his back while hanging the other weapon sideways.

Aiming the long weapon up ahead, one of his eyes looked through the mounted scope and switched it in a night vision mode. The center of the sights was aimed at the dog that was dropped asleep at back of the bunk. It is close to the fence and a shot may be possible, but not easy.

The wires, arranged in diamonds, two inches by two inches in dimensions, will make the shot hard. Shooting at a moving target in an open ground is way a lot easier. In here, the ammunition must go through one of the holes. A little change in angle and air velocity will make a difference and the shot may ring at the fence, will wake up the dog, would surely bark at them and reveal their position.

The man with the aimed weapon took a long breath. He panned his eyes a little sideways, observing changes in the soft blowing breeze as if he can see it. One long exhale and he pressed the trigger.

A muffled pop erupted as a dim light came and went. The ammunition travelled with ease through one of the holes and buried itself right on the dog's neck. The ammunition is in fact a dart loaded with a dose of tranquilizers.

"What was that?" One of the guards, the seated one, uttered in Mexican as he instantly bolted up when he picked the muffled pop. "I thought I heard something."

The other guard switched off the safety of his service firearm as he trailed the other guard when he exited the bunk. The first one readied his assault rifle too.  Both men are ready to unleash hell if someone will dare to challenge them.

"The dog is resting easy," the second guard said as he followed the trail of the first. "If there is a problem, it should be barking."

The guards retrieved a torchlight each from their waste. Upon flicking it on, they trained it through the fence towards the position of the three men. They were not fast enough to catch the men when they went hiding behind low bushes. They let their lights dance around the terrain for a while.

"Say the word," the companion of the leader whispered softly as he aimed his assault rifle right on the neck of the first guard. Both of them hid behind a grove of grasses too. "I got one on lock."

"Easy," the leader answered coolly. "Let them take care of their job. I want no blood of the innocents for this mission."

Before long, the guards got tired of seeing nothing but their dancing lights. In fact, their light have hit the two hiding spots of the intruders but they did not see any clues of them. The intruders’ grey clothing completely blended with the dark.

There are military units and armed forces that utilize black clothing during night raids. The concept of not being seen in the dark when wearing black garments has been accepted by most but that is contrary to the fact. Men wearing grey is more likely not to be seen when they come striding in the dark. The black garments will become a fleeting shadow against the grayness of the night. This night, the gray clothing of the men when hit by light was interpreted as darkness by the guards' eyes. They are oblivious to the fact that someone is watching them, more even, ready to fire weapons on them.

When they got convinced that nothing was wrong, both men agreed to get back to the guardhouse. As they turned off their torches, three shadows of invisible wraiths crouched low towards the fence, a little further than the guardhouse. With two men holding parts of the fence, one of them produced a bolt-cutter from his backpack. And as his companions held the wire so as not to cause movement when the fence is cut, he proceeded in cutting wires

After less than two minutes, the man produced a gaping gash at the wire, enough for a man to crawl in. With weapons drawn, two of the men made cover as one crept to the other side of the fence. When the first man successfully crept in, he too drew his weapon, aiming it towards the guardhouse. The process was repeated until all men were inside the compound. From there, they crept towards the guardhouse, the dog, unwary in its sleep.

In a proper distance, one of them, the one who shot the dog, veered away from the pack as he positioned himself where there will be a clear shot through door. He crouched when he reached his desired position and slung his assault rifle then retrieved and aimed the sniper g*n to the door. His other two companions have reached the back wall of the guardhouse by then. One of them leaned his weapon at the wall and retrieved another weapon slung at his back. With the weapon ready, he slowly went around the other side where the door is, becoming one with the flatness of the wall. When he is near the edge of the wall, he looked towards the dog-shooter, raising a closed fist above his head. He counted up to three in his mind and opened his hands. He will be a back up to the shooter in case the later miss or something goes off as planned.

Upon the signal, a muffled pop filled the night air for the second time that night as the ammunition travelled, locked on the guard who is overlooking a window just near the gate. The shot hit him at the back of his head and he was dropping in no time.

Inside the guardhouse, the other guard saw his companion dropped on the ground as if his knees instantly turned to jelly. With the dog ever silent and the muffled pop unheard, he did not ever think that there is a threat lingering around. He laid his weapon on the table and rushed to his fallen companion when another muffled shot filled the air. The dog-shooter hit his third victim square at the back and there was no need for backup.

The two other men in gray squeezed in the room as if by cue, the dog-shooter crouching low towards the guardhouse. In an instant, one of the first two men snatched a torch from the waist of one of the guards. He went outside to the gate and used the light to signal the leader and his companion who came running towards them upon understanding.

The operation went well as planned. Now, they are in control of the security of the gate. Only one thing is left for them now, wait for the real target to arrive. They will not have to wait much longer for the prey to come.