Letters in the Dark
one
A/N: Now, I’m no Tom Clancy, so I did the best that I could
on this one. If anyone is very good at
working through action sequences and you want to give a hand then PM me.
later. I’m still researching knives and
guns and other such WMAs, but I wanted to get the story started while it was
fresh in my mind. As usual I am a feedback whore, so feel free to write
back. And once again, the letters that
are in the story are an idea ripped from a Suzanne Brockmann romance novel
titled Letters to Kelly.
*****
It was raining again.
God pissed down on southern Sudan and no one in the world could care
less about it. Scratch that.
The curse of a nine-month long rainy season beat down
relentlessly on South Darfur. For
months on end, the sky stayed thick with darkness. The sun faded into a myth.
The din of rain muted the sounds of night.
hungry. The wails of raped women and
the coarse laughter of rutting militiamen were no more than whispers.
learned not to weep, for then the rain was not necessary.
fathers and mute children was pervasive.
The stealthy tread of rubber soled, tarytary issued, tightly laced
leather boots were lost to the rain.
Death moved quietly through the damp lands.
at the base of the Nuba Mountains; manifesting itself in the form of an elite
military team out to settle a very personal score.
Hate fueled the two teams that championed for death; and
Chloe Sullivan led them. The alpha team
was her direct responsibility. Her men
knew what to do, when to do it and how she liked it done.
found for any price. On many occasions
they had spilleood ood together and for each other. They were her family and she protected her.
<
They could have easily carried out this operation
alone. The hundred odd soldiers that
stood between them and their desired quarry were negligible.
reinforcements. As a result, the best
men in the Sudanese Liberation Alliance were now her beta team.
These men were at the core of a grass roots revolution
determined to bring an end to the mass genocide in their land.
husbands and sons forced to become the most competent of killers.
seventeen years-had lines of grief and war deeply etched in his face.<
st
style="mso-spacerun: yes"> Their clothes were shabby and their shoes
well worn, but their guns were new and their resolve unmatched.
start in Darfur.
The goal was simple.
Infiltrate the compound and kill without compunction.
before the alpha squad would enter.
Everyone had a vested interest in this mission; there was no
doubt it would go off without a hitch.
At the end of it all, Chloe would have what was hers and the SLA would
have a new stronghold in the heart of Darfur from which to lead the
resistance. The prisoners that they
were sure to find could only add to their numbers and aid in the revival of a
revolution.
As they approached the ten-meter m Chl Chloe raised her hand
to signal the beta team to the ready position.
On her command the lithe forms of twenty-five fatigue clad men,
slithered to their targets and set about silently dispatching the first line of
defense. Calloused ebony hands deftly
wielded knives to snuff out the lives of their Arab counterparts.
to prevent any screaming as throats were slit.
Not a single shot was fired and the rain forged on beating
the blood of the fallen into the muddy earth.
The team leader gave the all-clear sign.
Silently, Chloe pulled out six grappling hooks.
rain acted as a silencer for the metallic sound of metal finding purchase in
concrete. She fell back along with five
others to provide cover the men. Timing
was key. If a guard walked by too soon
and raised the alarm, the mission could become…difficult.
Out of the corner of her eye she spotted him.
soon. Garcia was about one body
length away from the top. The cool comfort of an objective
kill fell around Chas sas she sighted her target. The scope of her high-powered rifle moved deftly along the
features of the guard. She waited until
it rested right between his eyes before pulling the trigger.
impending demise and his body fell heavily to the ground.
even a little.
Garcia hefted a well-muscled leg over the wall and fell into
a deep crouch. The dull length of his
blade flashed as it was transferred from between his teeth to hanging loosely
in his left hand. He didn’t look behind
him to check on his team. They were
behind him and they knew what to do.
His sherry colored eyes glittered dangerously from out of a
grease-coated face as he allowed himself the luxury of one kiss to the crucifix
secreted beneath the neck of his shirt.
Que Dios perdoneme.
When the last man made it over the top, Chloe and her cover
team set about their own ascent. Upon
reaching the top, they quickly separated and scattered towards their assigned
teams.
She gently dabbed at the perspiration that had managed to
bead through the layer of black paint smeared on her face.
polish as well, but it was a necessary inconvenience. The slightest light even in this rain would glaringly reflect her
lily-white skin and sun bleached locks.
Only her Irish moss hazel eyes could give away her ethnicity; and anyone
close enough to see that was either a team or or a dead man.
Her body was study in tension and nerves as she traced the
path to her men. The bodies of
uniformed men littered the floor and she eyed them wearily; ready to strike in
the event that a kill had not been seen to completion.
ground as she came around a corner and spotted the alpha and beta team convened
at the designated point. She
re-sheathed her blade in its wrist holster and slid to the middle of the
assembly.
Kneeling down to the damp earth once more she reached into
the depth of her knapsack to remove a laptop.
The screen immediately brought up a series of blue prints.
that this was information they would need.
The smart screen allowed for clear viewing from all angles.
Chloe brought aee-dee-dimensional schematic of the compound.
the screen to highlight their current position. Her digital pen drew along the screen to display the various
paths that would be most effective for deep infiltration.
well as the likely posts that were patrolled by guards.
off and prisoner-holding camps were clearly circled. Civilian casualties were unacceptable to Chloe.
hand-to-hand combat unless absolutely necessary. She then marked off on each path a number to correspond with the
designated teams.
As before the SLA would act as sweepers.
the heart of the compound. The area was
heavily guarded and led to a subteran han hold area. The lower level contained theing ing quarters of command members
and was the center for mission planning.
Only the alpha team would go under.
SLA team one would hold down the immediate vicinity to prevent any
interference from rogue soldiers. It
was a thorough plan and there was no room for bullshit.
eco economical movements, Chloe secured the laptop,
replaced her backpack and came to her feet.
A twirl of her right index finger signaled that it was time
to move out.
The teams reassembled and filed out of the passageway before
separating to trace their assigned paths.
Team one ane ale alpha squad brought up the rear; they were the only
teams to forge straight ahead.
*****************
Black polish was stinging her eyes.
blinked through the pain. Off in the
distance she picked up the sound of heavy military issue boots coming down the
hallway towards her. Chloe indulged in
a rich string of oaths. It sounded like
two of them. It would be a real bitch
to keep them both quiet as she killed them.es">
Chloe hated sloppy word ted team one was getting sloppy.
Quietly, she darted back into a deep alcove to wait out her
targets. The sound of masculine
laughter grew steadily closer.
5 meters
Inhale.
4 meters
Exhale.
3 meters
Easy does it.
2 meters
Breathe deep.
1 me…
Now!
Without a sound she sprang out at her closest opponent.
his neck, cutting straight to the bone.
There was a moment of pure stillness as his life spurted out onto his
companion. The hesitation was his
undoing. She adeptly removed the
semiautomatic handgun from the dead man’s hip holster.
into his partner until they met with the parallel wall.
bullet leaving its chamber as it passed through his friend and himself to find
a place in the wall. The wrenching pain of a slug burnintointo his gut kept him
shut long enough for her red right hand to slit his throat from ear to ear.
Chloe wiped the traces of blood onto the nearest man’s
shirtsleeve, before placing it back in its sheath. When she removed her support, the two bodies slithered lifelessly
to the floor; their blood mingled on the white washed wall and pooled around
their prone forms. Without another thought for the lives she had just taken,
Chloe took off once again for the center of the compound.
*********
Chloe noted with grim satisfaction that the soles of her
boots were coated in drying enemy blood.
She was less than ten meters from the heart of the base and she had made
it there without further incident. Some
of the more recent kills could have been cleaner she griped, but the end was
still the same and she had bigger fish to fry.
Her face scrunched into a look of displeasure at her use of the tired
cliché. In an instant her face screwed
up for an entirely different reason.
Someone was shouting.
In Arabic
Shit
*********