Chapter 2

My eyes never stopped moving as I walked toward the door. I was on Tenterhooks. For all I knew the place could be booby-trapped, the Taliban loved their EIDs, or it could be full of Taliban soldiers armed to the teeth. For a brief second, I thought about kicking the door in and throwing in a thunder flash but if the girls were in there it would scare the life out of them.

I knelt by the door and listened for a few seconds, there was no noise from in the house.

I wrapped my knuckles in the rough wooden door. Then I waited for ten seconds before I did it again

There was still no movement, no sound...

“Asmaan ... Damsa ... It is me Rosie” I whispered; my mouth was very close to the door.

I waited for thirty seconds and then I thought that maybe they had moved on, or worse had been killed by the Taliban warriors. The bearded, back-robed warriors were not fond of strong-minded ladies and treated them as an enemy. I knew that if the Taliban knew that they had helped me in the past or were helping me now, they would be shot or beheaded as a warning to others.

We had seen the bodies of the men and women that the Taliban had accused of treachery, and they were not a pretty sight. We had seen hangings, beheadings and worse.

I was just about to move away when I heard a voice. It was a girl’s voice.

“Rosie, is it really you?” I heard a voice ask.

“Yes, it’s me, can you let me in?” I asked.

There was a shuffling sound from within the building I heard at least three bolts sliding open and then I heard some sort of shutter being removed from the door. The door opened and I stepped inside. The room was dark.

I could sense that someone was close to me, I heard the door close and seconds later a lamp was lit, and the room got bigger as the darkness was replaced with light. It had not changed since I was last there.

The lamp had been lit by Asmaan who was standing at the far side of the room and Damsa was standing inches from me. I lowered the gun. Damsa gave me a big hug and a hard kiss on the lips.

“It’s good to see you Rosie, we were worried that you had been caught by the Taliban,” she said as she stepped away. As soon as Damsa had stepped away Asmaan took her place. Her hug lasted a little longer.

Then kissed me before she stepped away.

“Are you hungry Rosie?” she asked, “Would you like something to eat or maybe something to drink?”

“Thank you Asmaan I would like some water please,” I said, and then I made my weapon safe and put it on the floor.

“Why have you come back Rosie,” Damsa asked, “It’s nice to see you but why are you here?”

“The Americans are planning an attack on a training camp at the other end of the valley,” I told them.

“Yes, we know,” Asmann said. The way she said it in a matter-of-fact way seemed strange.

“You know?” I asked, “How the hell do You guys know about the attack?”

“Yes, we know all about it, the Taliban came and took half of our goats two days ago, they were talking about the attack. We overheard two of the officers talking about it. “Asmaan said.

“Did they talk about how they knew about the attack?” I asked.

“No, they just said that the Americans would be in trouble when they came into the valley,” she said and handed me a cup of water, “They knew it would be today, they told us to tell them if we saw any Americans, and to keep our livestock in the sheds!”

“Did they say how or why?” I asked.

“No, but last night strange-looking trucks drove past the house,” Damsa said.

“How were they strange?” I asked as I sipped the water.

“I can’t say, my English is not good enough to describe them, but they had things on the back,” she said.

“Let me draw them for you,” Asmaan said, and she opened a drawer and took out a notepad and a pencil.

She drew two pictures. One looked like a flatbed truck with a rocket launcher on the back and the other was a jeep with a large machine gun mounted on the back. Fuck if this was true, we had trouble I thought to myself.

“How many of each were there?” I asked.

“There were at least six of each,” Asmaan said.

I looked at the drawings again and then back at the girls. The drawings were rough but there was no mistaking what they depicted.

“Is it okay to call my Boss into the house?” I asked.

“Yes. Yes of course” Asmaan said and Damsa nodded her approval.

I spoke into my throat mic.

“Guns, all is okay in the house, but I need you to come and see something,” I said and smiled at the girls. They both smiled back. My mind drifted slightly to the last time I was here and the fun I had had. I felt my cock harden in my boxers.

“I will be there in two minutes” he replied, and my head was back in the game. I drained my cup.

Damsa noticed my cup was empty, so she refilled it. The water tasted good, and it was cool. Even a night walk in the desert can leave you thirsty.

There was a knock on the door and Guns walked in, he had left his Bergan with the other lads, and he had his M27 in his hand.

“Guns these are two friends of mine Damsa and Asmaan, they are anti-Taliban, “I said.

They both smiled at Guns, and I noticed Damsa look him up and down, with an admiring eye.

“Hello ladies, it’s good to meet you,” Guns said, he looked them up and down and then took in the hut before he looked at me.

“So, what’s up Rosie,” he asked, so I passed him the pictures the ladies had drawn.

“They look like missile launchers and those look like high-calibre GPMGs, “he said and looked at me and then at the girls.

“They say at least six of each truck heading down the valley last night,” I told him, and the girls nodded to confirm what I had said.

“And men on foot followed them,” Asmaan told us.

“How many men?” Guns asked.

“We could not tell, we had to hide but we heard many voices,” Asmaan told us.

“Okay these are game changers,” Guns said,” Rosie we need to warn the Yanks and then head down into the Valley.”

Our headsets were only connected to each other, only Curly had a radio link back to the base.

“Ladies please stay indoors and stay safe,” he said and shook their hands and nodded at me.

He went out of the door and the two girls looked at me.

“You will go and fight now?” Damsa asked.

“Yes, I will go and fight,” I told her, she hugged me and kissed me hard on the lips.

“Stay safe Rosie and come back to us after the fighting is over,” she told me.

Then Asmaan hugged and kissed me. Memories of the fun I had had with them flooded my mind again.

“Please come back and see us Rosie,” she said.

I did not know what to say, did not know how to reply.

I picked up my rifle and slipped out of the door. I jogged over to where I could see Guns kneeling beside an animal shed.

“So, it looked like the Taliban has plenty more men and more armour than the intel Suggests!” he whispered.

“Yes mate, it seems that the Yanks might be walking into a firefight, “I said.

“So, tell me how you know these girls and...” His sentence was cut short by Curly, his voice came through our earpieces.

“Guns, we need you here now. The shit has hit the fan,” he said.

We both looked at each other and then ran back to where we had left Curly and Doc. They were both looking concerned.

“What’s up then Curly?” Guns asked as soon as we got within whispering distance.

“Okay it has all gone tits up, the backup force has been attacked, and they are being pinned down by snipers. They think there are at least twelve snipers around them” Curly said.

Guns and I looked at each other. We both knew the damage twelve snipers could do, if they were bedded down well, they would be hard to shift.

“Okay, we have some intel for the head shed back at base” Guns said.

The head shed was army slang for the Command or Control Centre.

“Hang on boss I hadn’t finished, the base is also under attack, they have been coming under mortar fire for the last five minutes and also sniper fire.” He said and then held his hand up, he was listening to someone talking in his earpiece.

“The Taliban have launched an attack on the base’s main gates,” he said after a few seconds.

“Fuck me this is getting serious.” Guns said and we all nodded.

“Okay get me Captain Davis on the radio” Guns said.

I reached for my Bergan and took out a ration pack. This might be a long night and fuel was important. Doc did the same.

Curly spoke into his main set radio mic and then handed the headset and the mic to Guns. Curly reached for his water bottle. The Doc, Curly and I all looked at each other. We all knew without saying anything that this operation was going to get a little bit tasty.

I opened another ration pack and started to eat. If things did go wrong, it might be a while before we got any food.

“Looks like the Taliban are taking the fight to the Yanks big time,” Doc said and looked around at all of us.

We only heard one side of the conversation, but it was obvious that things were not going to plan.

We heard Guns sign off and then he handed the kit back to Curly.

“Right lads, we need to get our shit together.” He said and reached for his water bottle and took a long gulp.

“So, the sit rep is this, the base is under attack by unknown numbers, the backup force is now under attack by unknown numbers and the main attack force started their attack and have met with large numbers of enemy combatants, “he said.

The Taliban had split our forces, it is good soldiering. Guns opened a ration pack and munched on some dried food. I was eating dried fruit and sipping water from my bottle.

“Is there any news on the other guys?” Doc asked.

“There has been no radio contact with Alpha, the head shed is getting a drone into position to see if they are on the ground with dodgy radio or...”

He did not need to finish the sentence, if there was radio silence there were only two reasons. We all looked at each other, we all knew the guys in Alpha well.

“Davis has sent Charlie and Delta to try to sort out the snipers pinning down the backup force,” Guns told us, “We are going to hit the enemy from behind.”

We all looked at each other. It was the sort of action we had all craved. It was the reason we joined the SAS. It was what we trained for and what we were good at ... the adrenaline was flowing that was for sure.

“Right let’s get moving, “Guns said, “Let’s do our best to help the Yanks.”

We all packed our shit into our Bergan’s and headed toward the action. It was an hour later that we started to hear gunfire. Then we heard a chopper heading our way. Its guns were working overtime as it headed up the valley.

There was a stand of trees around fifty yards away that backed onto a steep section of the valley wall. The chopper banked into a turn to head back up the valley and there was a roar as at least three rockets were fired from the trees, at the same time we heard the GPMG start to chatter as they fired at the chopper.

The pilots did not have a chance to do anything, most choppers have the anti-rocket kit but, in this case, there was no way the guys could do anything, and the chopper exploded into a ball of fire and crashed to the ground.

We all hit the ground...

I heard Curly calling into the head shed that the chopper was down. There was no point trying to see if there were survivors, no one could have survived that crash.

“Right lads, Rosie and Doc you go right, Curly and I will go left” As he said it, we heard another roar from the trees and three more rockets went flying up the valley.

“Where the fuck do they get that sort of hardware,” Doc asked.

“Fuck knows mate, but we need to sort out it and quick,” Curly said.

We all slipped off our Bergan’s and left them under some gorse bushes. We fist bumped and then Guns led Curly to the left and I led Doc to the right.

We had only moved around twenty-five yards when I saw six Taliban moving toward us, it did not look like they had seen us. I had my L119A1/A2 ready for action. Doc and I dropped to a kneeling position.

“Enemy sighted six tangos heading our way,” I whispered into my throat mic.

“Engage Rosie” Guns replied without any hesitation, it was time to take the battle to the Taliban and take it to them SAS Style.

Doc and I fired at the same time, three round bursts ... Aim fire kill aim fire kill aim fire kill.

The Taliban did not get to fire a shot. They all dropped to the ground. As we stopped firing, we heard Guns and Curly open up.

Doc and I moved to where the six men had hit the floor, I pulled out my Glock and double-tapped three of the men in the head, and Doc did the same to the other three. It was the SAS’s way of making sure that we left no combatants behind us in a firefight.

Guns and Curly were still firing into the stand of trees, we heard AK47s returning fire, and then three more rockets were launched, If the Taliban were clued up and they were getting their aim right those rockets would be causing a lot of trouble for the Yanks.

I pointed to a group of rocks that would give us good cover and Doc and I jogged over to them.

I reloaded and then Doc did the same.

I had a look over the top of the rocks and saw that ten Taliban soldiers were coming our way. They were armed with a mixture of AKs and old looking bolt action rifles.

“We have company Doc,” I said and at the same time started to fire three round bursts at the soldiers, they were not well trained, they had bunched up, making them easy targets, seconds later I heard Doc firing. The sound of AK rounds hitting the rocks made me dodge back. Then Doc fired and the enemy started to aim and him, so I popped out of cover, aimed, and fired, one dead, aimed and fired another dead, aimed, and fired one wounded, if they had been well trained they would have spread out. Luckily for us, they were not, it was like shooting rats in a barrel.