Operation sandstorm

Jackpot

'Clear, clear, clear,' it sounded quietly. Jay felt a tap on his shoulder. 'Last man,' Rips said. Jay turned around and followed his team to the next building in the abandoned village. Suddenly they heard gunshots and immediatly they sat down on one knee.

'Mouse, sitrep,' Jay ordered over the comms. The only reaction was white noise.

'Mouse, sitrep,' Jay repeated. After a few agonizing seconds of silence Mouse answered his comms.

'All elements be advised, suicide vests on target. I repeat, suicide vests on target,' he said.

'Copy that, you guys good?' Jay informed.

'We're cool. We're in sniperpositions on the roof. The building is cleared. We found a large stash of weapons and drugs in one of the basements. We're holding down the fort,' Mouse reported.

'Roger,' Jay said and they continued with their search for Amali. As they approached the last few houses of the village they saw someone running towards them. He came out of nowhere.

'Stop,' Rips yelled at the running person. He repeated his words in Pasto, but without effect. The person kept moving and suddenly Jay saw a suspicious bulge under his shirt.

'S-vest!' he yelled and he shot the running person. Jay saw how his head shot back by the impact of his bullet and Jay got a good look at his face. He now saw that it was only a boy, not older then fourteen. He didn't even have any facialhair yet. In a split second Jay saw how the boy's finger pressed the detonation button.

'Avelanche!' he yelled. He turned around, went down on one knee and protected his head with his hands. A devastating explosion sounded and they all got thrown forward by the impact. After a few seconds the dust settled and the ringing in their ears lessened.

'What happened Hawk?' Mouse voice sounded over the comms.

'Tally? Cards? Dallas? Rips? Hawk? Anyone come in?!'

'We're okay,' Jay reassured him quickly. 'S-vest, we have their location. Moving in now.'

'Copy, be careful.'

'Dallas, Cards, go around back. Rips, Tally, on me,' Jay ordered.

'Copy.'

'Roger.'

'Let's move.' Quickly, but effeciently they made their way into the unknown building. It turned out to be an abandoned one-story factory. In the front were a few offices and the back was a large area with a few small machines.

'Clear,' Rips said as he checked one of the offices on the left.

'Clear,' Tally said for an office on the right. Jay had his back turned on them and kept an eye on the entry to look out for more unwanted visitors. He felt a tap on his shoulder.

'Last man,' Rips said and they moved on to the next offices. A few minutes later they heard gunshots in the other area. They quickly finished clearing the offices and made their way to the big, open space in the back of the factory.

'Stay low, don't get in their line of fire,' Jay warned his men. They all sat down on one knee in the doorway and started eliminating targets. The gunfire slowly started to quiet down as they shot more and more enemies. Suddenly two men appeared from their hiding places, their guns raised. Jay immediatly recognized their postures.

'Eagle, eagle,' he identified himself. As soon as the two men heared his voice they lowered their weapons and Jay, Tally and Rips rose to their feet.

'You guys good?' Jay informed.

'We're good Hawk, you?'

'Yep.'

'Hey Hawk, look at this beauty,' Dallas said, voice filled with sarcasm. The group Rangers walked trough the dozens of dead bodies to where their teammate was looking at a man on the ground. Jay smiled meanly when he recognized him. The dead man's eyes were open and stared at the ceiling, he had a bullethole in his forehead.

'Well hello Amali,' he greeted the dead man sarcastically. He pressed his comms. 'We're passing jackpot, I repeat we're passing jackpot. Arizul Amali is dead,' he reported. Jay took a picture of the man's head as evidence and turned away.

'Let's get back to the others,' he said. The men made their way out of the builing, trough the village back to the abandoned house. A couple hundred yards from the house Jay signaled with a green laser and after a few seconds they got a signal back from the rooftop. They knew it was safe to approach without risking to get shot by their friends. A weird shape in the landscape caught Jay's eyes and he looked at it. He saw that it was a body. A boy with an undetonated suicide vest and a hole in his head. The kid was about the same age as the boy Jay shot. He felt a wave of nausea going trough his stomach and he averted his head and continued walking.

'Hey,' Mouse greeted, standing in the doorway.

'Hey,' Jay greeted back. 'You good?' he asked. He saw how his friend stared at the body behind him and knew they had some of the same thoughts. Mouse shook his head to clear it.

'Yeah, fine,' he lied. He coughed a few times before he waved them inside. Jay shot him a concerned look and hung back until it was just the two of them.

'You got him?' Jay asked while he nodded his head to the dead boy behind them. Mouse nodded.

'Yeah, I got one to. Sick world we live in,' Jay said bitterly.

'It's a little better now without Amali in it,' Mouse reminded him while he friendly bumped against Jay's shoulder. They heard the sound of a helicopter in the distance which was sent to pick them, the drugs and the weapons up.

'Yeah, let's go home,' Jay said. They stood together in the doorway and stared at the abandoned village, waiting on their ride back to the base which served as their home for the forseeable future. They found support in each other's quiet company. They knew the faces from the dead boys would haunt them for a while, but they were not alone.