From the helicopter, I caught sight of the peak of Snake Cottonwood Group, its dark silhouette looming against the night sky. But that wasn’t our immediate destination. We had a house rented about thirty minutes away, where two hundred of our men, deployed by Leo and Anthony since Sunday, were already stationed. The plan was set. We would invade the hill at one in the morning, a time when the streets would be deserted, ensuring minimal collateral damage.
As the helicopter began its descent toward the airstrip we had secured, Valerie’s nickname for it, our “iron monster”, came to mind. The chopper would rest there until our mission was complete, waiting to take us back once the job was done.
We disembarked, and Leo immediately engaged in a quick conversation with the pilot. I didn’t linge
