CHAPTER 6

 

 

"SABBY, ARE you okay?" a voice asked, interrupting her thoughts. Raising her head, she was surprised to see Jennie standing in front of her. Normally, she could sense another's presence long before they arrived, but this particular memory always made her oblivious to events around her. For that reason alone, she did her best to avoid thinking of Constance. Unfortunately, her mind wouldn't release its grasp on the one woman she had truly loved. She would relive those moments over and over again for eternity.

Standing, she gave the young private a reassuring smile.

"I'm fine. Just daydreaming."

"From your expression, I'd say it was more a nightmare," Jennie replied, giving her friend a closer look.

"I guess it depends on your perspective."

Slapping the woman on the shoulder, she gave her a light shove.

"Come on. We have work to do." Looking at the sun's position, she estimated she had another hour before the troops moved out.

"Yeah, I heard we were going out again. I hope this time turns out better than the last," she grumbled, remembering the three men who had been killed by landmines.

"You and me both, Jennie."

*  *  *

Two hours later, the squad climbed into three jeeps and headed toward the small village. They would drive to within two clicks and then travel the rest of the distance on foot. The drivers would return to base camp and await their pick-up call.

Approaching the village, the soldiers lay down on a ridge to check the activity. Several villagers milled around the open door of what was obviously a store. Baggy trousers, long shirts and a sash were the common dress of the local men. Skullcaps and turbans finished off their wardrobe. The women wore long dresses or skirts over their trousers and scarves on their heads.

"What do ya think, Sabby?"

"We'll wait here until dark. It's hard to tell which ones are insurgents and which are villagers."

"Or collaborators," Jennie said.

"Yeah. Send Willie and Samson to the other side of the hill to look around. Tell them to keep low. We don't want anyone knowing we're here yet."

"Gotcha."

Crawling off to give the two men their instructions, Jennie didn't notice the scorpion near her left hand until a knife sailed by and cut it in half.

"What the... Oh, thanks Sabby."

"Keep alert, Jennie. There's worse things than that out here."

"Sorry."

Sabnock nodded, grabbed the knife and then motioned her to move on. Turning back to watch the village, she noticed a group of men smoking cigarettes and huddled near a small house. One man kept looking at a particular ridge, his body language a clear indication he was nervous. Following the direction of his glances, the demoness spotted a well traveled path. Obviously, the villager was expecting someone important. Pressing the throat mic against her neck, she called Samson.

"Samson, where you at?"

"About three hundred meters to your left, Sabby."

"Good. Back up a bit and watch that trail. I think we're going to have company very soon."

"Will do. Let me know if you see anything."

"Roger."

Sending two other soldiers in the opposite direction, she instructed them to concentrate on the men in the village, hoping they would give her more clues about the insurgents. When she noticed several villagers glancing nervously at some men standing by an open door, she was sure of their target.

"Squirrel. See if you can get someone on the radio that knows about this place. I want to know how many exits there are in that house and who lives there."

"Sure thing, Sabby."

Sabnock waited while he called to the base. She and Squirrel were the only ones who spoke Farsi. It was one of the reasons the locals trusted them and were willing to help them hunt for the militants who had invaded their homeland. The locals knew most of the foreigners pretending to be villagers weren't there to help them but to promote their own agenda of terror.

*  *  *

The sun settled below the horizon and the soldiers put on their night vision goggles. Everything turned an eerie green. Thirty minutes later, Sabnock spotted two men walking slowly down the path. Three men approached them and called out a greeting. After shaking hands, they talked for a few minutes and then all five turned around and disappeared back into the hills.

"Sabby, what do you think?" Samson asked over the communicator.

"I think they're going to get a surprise, but wait for my orders. We need to know everyone that's involved with this cell."

"Roger."

A short time later, eight men carrying four large crates staggered down the path toward the house. Sabnock instructed her men to let them enter the building before moving in.

"Okay; Squirrel, you and Chip take the east side and keep an eye out for anyone on the outside who may be watching. Samson, you and Willie take the south side. The rest of you keep an eye out for trouble from the villagers. Jennie and I will take the door. When I give the word, we all go in at once... and be careful."

Cautiously each team crept silently down the incline toward their target, making sure they weren't spotted. The sound of loud male voices came from several homes. Occasionally a woman's voice could be heard as she lectured someone to behave.

Once they were in position, Sabnock gave her final instructions, cautioning everyone to be careful and diligent. Then, giving the signal, eight soldiers burst through the windows and doors, leaving a half dozen outside to guard their backs. Surprised, some of the insurgents grabbed their rifles but were quickly killed. Sabnock did a quick body count and realized two men were missing.

"Shit! They're not all here."

"They have to be. No one left the house," Samson replied.

Hearing her troops yelling, she ran outside and saw several villagers with torches and rifles running toward them.

"Squirrel, get out here and tell them we're not after them."

Running past her, Squirrel waved his hands and yelled to the villagers to halt. As they slowed, he told them about the insurgents and that they weren't after anyone else. One man, dressed in the typical garb of an Afghani approached Squirrel slowly, demanding an explanation. Hands flying wildly, it was obvious he wasn't happy and wanted to talk to person in charge.

"Sabby, you'd better get over here. This doesn't look good."

Turning to Jennie, she told her and the others to check out the rest of the house, especially the flooring, while she tried to calm things down. She had only walked about thirty paces when she heard a loud explosion and felt her body being tossed helplessly through the air. Landing painfully on her face, she twisted around to see the house in ruins, smoke and dust spreading through the air like a brown cloud. The sound of running feet distracted her momentarily from the carnage and she turned to shoot whoever the attacker was.

"Whoah, Sabby!" Squirrel yelled, holding his hands up defensively. Kneeling next to her, he checked for injuries.

"I'm fine," she hissed, although a sharp pain sliced through her back.

"I don't think so," he replied, pressing his hand against the five inch gash in her clothes. "You're bleeding pretty badly."

"I'm fine, I said. Go check the others."

Nodding, Squirrel realized it was useless to argue. Sabnock knew what she was doing. Running to the house, he and the other soldiers who had been standing guard on the perimeter searched the ruins for survivors.

"We've got three wounded and three dead!" he yelled.

"Get the helicopter here, ASAP!" The demoness yelled back and then grimaced as another pain tore through her. Sometimes she wondered why she put herself though this type of thing, but knew it was the only thing that made her existence bearable.

It's getting pretty old, though, she thought. A hand touching her shoulder startled her. The villager Squirrel had been talking to was trying to get her attention.

"Amerkin, okay you?" he asked.

Sabnock nodded and motioned toward her men. Nodding his understanding, he signaled to the villagers to help the wounded. Samson, Willie and Chip were carried to a clearing for the helicopter. Jennie's body, along with the other two dead soldiers, was removed and covered with blankets provided by the women.

*  *  *

It took forty five minutes for the helicopters to arrive. The wounded and dead were loaded into one while fresh backups jumped out of the second. Sabnock refused to leave her remaining troops, knowing they still had to explain to the villagers about what had happened. A medic put a compression bandage on her wound.

"You better get that taken care of when you get back to base. There's some nasty shit you can catch if you're not careful."

"Thanks, Crappy. I'll be fine."

"Yeah, yeah. Well, let me put it another way. If you don't get it taken care of, I'll put you on report."

"Okay! Can't you go bug someone else?"

Snickering, the medic walked away. He loved picking on the infamous Corporal Sabnock, especially knowing he could irritate her so well.

*  *  *

Two hours later, jeeps arrived to take the remaining soldiers back to base. After explaining to the Afghani leader about the insurgents, the weapons and explosives stashed in the house, the villagers returned to their homes satisfied they hadn't been attacked.

On the return trip to camp no one spoke. Each knew it could have been any one of them in those body bags. Losing members from their squadron was painful.

"You going to get looked at, Sabby?" Squirrel asked.

"I want to check on the guys first. Then I'll get patched up."

"I just don't understand any of this. All this hatred and killing. Why are we even here? It's not like we're going to solve anything."

"Probably not, but humans having been fighting useless wars for a long time. It's their nature."

Squirrel picked up a stone and angrily flung it at a nearby Hummer.

"Yeah, I guess, but this..." he said, sweeping his arms out to indicate the land around them. "This land isn't worth dying for."

"Maybe not to you, but apparently it is to the locals and some political groups."

"Well, I don't want to die here defending people who won't even stand up for themselves. Hell, while I'm sitting here talking, someone could put a bullet through my head."

Sabnock looked at the young man but refused to look into his future. She didn't want to know when Death would call on him. Looking off into the distance, she grimaced.

"I know what you mean. Death is like an assassin or sniper hiding in the darkness or shadows. It sees its target and patiently waits for the right moment to take the shot — and we never know when that will be."

"Yeah!" Squirrel sighed, tossing another stone at the vehicle. "Aren't you even a little bit afraid you might be the next target?"

Sabnock shrugged, knowing death wasn't an option for her.

"It's not something I think about. What's the use? No one knows when Death will come. The best we can do is live each moment as if it were our last and hope this life is enough. Only after we are dead will we know the truth."

"Truth?"

"Never mind, Squirrel. Now isn't the time for philosophy. I need to call Jennie's mom. I hate this part. How do I tell her that her daughter is dead when I promised to take care of her?"

"It wasn't your fault," Squirrel said quietly, knowing his leader always took their losses hard.

Sabnock gave him an odd look and walked away.

If only you knew, she thought. Sabnock could have prevented the fatal outcome if she had used her powers to find the missing insurgents. It would have been so easy to discover their hiding place. That was the dilemma. The demoness knew her men depended on her to guide them and make the right decisions. Without using her powers, she tried to keep that trust, knowing it was the only way to keep from seriously altering future events. She was not willing to do that although she knew everything she did had its own affect on the future. Sabnock believed that her actions as a human caused only minor changes — if even that. After all, there were many soldiers capable of doing her job almost as well.