By Chris Gilman
Chapter 2
The Captain looks through his binoculars at the camp below them. ‘This almost looks too easy.’
The camp is only a collection of tents surrounded by a little barb-wire. There are a few men sitting watch in what could almost be called bunkers. But except for the few guards there is no one visible, “Strange.”
A white wolf with the nametag of Sergeant Whitehorse gives him a funny look, “What’s wrong, sir?”
The Captain points at the four posts with one man keeping watch each. “Only four guards, a boy scout troop could take these guys. Intel told us we would be facing a major force here.”
The Sergeant looks down at the device attached to his wrist,
“Sir, it is
“I know Doug, I’m just being paranoid.” He reaches up and touches his headset, “Four man long-range fire-team report to commander.”
There is no sound as three wolves come out of the darkness and salute, “Reporting, sir.”
The Captain returns the salute and gives them a nod. “I’m counting four guards. I want you to take them out, fast as possible then cover the main force as they move on the camp. This is a terrorist training camp, but I want at least one alive to question.” He raises the binoculars to his eyes again and gazes down at the camp.
“Sir, you said only four guards?” asks one of the wolves who reported.
Max lowers the binoculars and looks at the wolf. “Yep, only four can be seen, but don’t mean that there aren’t others. Take out those guards and I’ll have the first fire-team ready to go soon as the fourth guard drops.”
The four wolves give him a nod and un-sling their rifles. They quietly head off in different directions as the Captain reaches for his headset again.
“First fire-team, when the guards drop, be ready to assault the base on my lead. Second fire-team, follow us by two minutes.”
There is a chorus of “affirmatives” from the com net and the quiet clicking of blots being slid back and rounds being chambered. The Captain pulls his assault rifle off his back and opens the under-slung grenade launcher to load a round from his belt. The Sergeant next to him brings up the heavy machine gun he had taken off the buggy and rests the belt of ammo over his left wrist.
Max looks at him and grins, “How much ammo you got there George?”
“Two-hundred rounds in this belt and another belt over my shoulder. Four-hundred rounds should last for this fight at least.” The sergeant pats the holster on his hip, “And if I should run out of ammo, I’ll be relying on a good old fashioned pistol, got about ten clips for it.”
There is the sound of a gunshot and all four guards drop. ‘Good, simultaneous kills, they won’t know where to guard against our assault.’
Putting his headset on vox he stands up yelling, “Party time!!!”
There is a chorus of howls as the air erupts with gunfire and an alarm sounds from inside the camp. But the wolf-men closing on the base are highly trained and skilled. Those with heavy machine guns focus their firepower on large groups. Mowing down as many as they can as fast as they can. The snipers still on the outskirts are still firing, picking off individual targets.
As his time sense tells him a minute is about to expire he and the rest of the first fire-team drop to their bellies, but don’t stop firing. Over the com-net can be heard, “Incoming!” as several thumps can be head behind them. The inside of the camp explodes as mortar rounds and explosive rockets blast the tents to pieces.
When the flare of the blasts and the sound clears the air the soldiers are waiting in silence. There is no sign of movement in the camp.
“Firs-team two, maintain cover position. Fire-team one, enter camp and search for survivors. I want at least one we can interrogate.”
The men on their bellies slowly stand up walk into the camp with their weapons at the ready. There is no resistance and no sign of movement.
“Well sir, looks like it was a short fight,” says
“Not much of a fight. The second fire-team’s concussion-flash rounds really finished off what we didn’t.”
Suddenly a voice is calling over the com-net, “Captain, we got something.”
“What?” asks the Captain as he starts walking towards where the speaker is waking a red flare.
“Sir, we found the entrance to a tunnel that was inside one of the tents.”
“Anyone gone in yet?”
“Negative sir,” replies the soldier.
“Roger that, be with you in a minute. Keep your weapon on that hole in case anyone sticks their head out.”
“Yes sir.”
A few minutes later the two wolves reach the younger soldier. “Report.”
The wolf salutes, “Sir, tunnel was found, no one has gone in or come out.”
The captain thumbs the safety off on his rifle, “Good,
sergeant, private, follow
And with that he jumps down the tunnel, ignoring the ladder imbedded in the wall. He lands, letting his legs absorb the impact of the landing. The two wolves land behind him and on either side with their weapons at the ready.
He makes a forward motion with his hand and starts slowly walking down the dark tunnel. Though to a normal human the tunnel would have been too dark to see his hand in front of his face, Max can see clearly for a short distance.
There is a sound up ahead and his ears swivel to catch it. He comes to a stop and drops to one knee, raising his gun to his shoulder so he can take aim. From around a corner appears a light source and two men slowly walking towards them with nervous looks on their faces.
In Arabic he calls out, “Freeze!”
The two men stop exactly where they are and stare into the darkness, but the three wolves are outside the visible range of their light.
Again in Arabic he calls out to them, “Drop the weapons, now!”
The two men are so shocked that they drop their guns without a thought.
“Private, cuff those men and take them back up.”
“Yes sir,” says the private as he walks into the light given off by their light.
Soon as they see the hulking wolf-man approaching them the two men let out a scream and the tunnel starts to smell strongly of ammonia as they loose control of their bladders. The three wolves wrinkle their muzzles at the stench but don’t more their hands from their weapons. Before the soldier reaches them they have already passed out from fear.
The soldier stops for a second and glances back at his Captain who gives him a nod. He slings his rifle and pulls out a couple of quick ties and secures the men’s hands behind their backs and their ankles together. Trussed up like that he un-slings his weapon again and smashes the light with a foot.
He gazes down the tunnel and lets the Captain and Sergeant pass him, taking up the rear guard position again as they advance.
Around the corner and about a hundred yards down the tunnel they see the signs of a glow up ahead and they freeze. Their sensitive ears pick up the sounds of hushed voices from ahead speaking Arabic.
With quick hand motions the Captain signals to the others what he wants them to do. They nod and together stand shoulder to shoulder in the tunnel and the Captain grabs a grenade load from his belt and thumbs it into the under-slung launcher of his assault rifle.
The others thumb their safeties off and nod in unison. Together they let out a unanimous, “HOWLLLLLL,” that shook the tunnel and caused a few loose rocks to from the ceiling. Simultaneously the Captain pulled the trigger on the launcher and the grenade launched into the room the light is coming from.
Three seconds later there is a lour bang and a flash of light from the room and the three wolves run into the room with their guns at the ready. They needn’t have bothered though. All the men in the room are lying on the ground stunned. As one starts to recover from the loud howl and the flash-bang that just exploded he reaches for a weapon that he had dropped. The Sergeant doesn’t give him a chance and opens up with the heavy machine gun he still carries and the man flies back to land in a bloody heap as the .50 caliber rounds strike him.
“No body move,” shouts the Captain in Arabic. “You reach for a gun or weapon, you die.”
Another man whose eyes have cleared starts to scream. With the echoes in the cavern the wolves can’t quite figure out what is being said, but they clearly catch the word, “Devils.”
Without looking at the private he speaks to him, “Son, restrain these men.”
“Yes sir,” says the private as he slings his gun and begins the process of tying up the seven men in the dug out room.
“Sir,” says the Sergeant as the last of the prisoners is tied up, “look at this.” He holds out a handful of papers the Captain looks at and frowns.
“Take them with us. Private, guard these men till I send a squad down here to help you extricate them.”
The private gives a salute and holds his gun at the ready. The other two wolves start walking out the tunnel they just came in.
“You know, sir, maybe taking prisoners isn’t such a good idea,” says the sergeant as they walk down the tunnel.
“I know, I know, but it’s the best way to get information.”
“The big wigs back in D.C. aren’t going to like it when these guys are released and word of us gets out.”
The Captain nods, “I know, but I think when I report the
information we get out of them, the general will be pleased. Besides, who would
believe them? Giant wolf-men devils who fight for the
They reach the hole back to the surface and look up. The captain motions upwards with his thumb, “After you.”
The sergeant gives him a grin and from a standing start jumps straight up to land neatly on the surface some ten feet above them. The Captain gives him a few minutes to clear the area then follows suit and jumps out himself, landing effortlessly on the ground outside the cave.
Touching his headset he calls out, “Corporal Grains, report to my location on the double with your squad.”
A few minutes later seven wolves stand in front of him saluting. “Sir, reporting as ordered, sir,” says the grey wolf that wears the name tag of Grains.
The Captain points at the tunnel as he gives them orders, “Down that tunnel you will find a secret room and nine bound prisoners. Go down there and help the private down there retrieve those prisoners. Also, look around for anything that might be of value military wise, and bring it out with you.”
The corporal salutes and one by one, the wolves disappear into the tunnel the Captain had just left.
After watching them jump down there is a beeping in his headset which the Captain answers with the touch of a button, “Captain Wolver here.”
“Captain, squad Cat reporting, our target is neutralized,” says the voice of Cat’s Lieutenant. “Limited resistance, they hardly put up any fight at all.”
“Same here Lieutenant, meet up at Home Plate for full debriefing.”
“Affirmative sir,” and with that the com net goes silent again.
“One of the other squads reporting?” asks the sergeant.
The Captain nods his head, “Yep, squad Cat has completed their job and are on their way to base. I’m still waiting on Bear.”
The sergeant pats him on the back, “I wouldn’t worry about Bear, they are some of our best fighters.”
“I know, that’s why I’m worried that I haven’t heard from them yet.” Checking the display on his wrist unit he sees that it has only been two hours since they dropped. “If they haven’t reported by the time we reach base I’ll send out a search team for them.”
“Yes sir, we should be ready to move out within the hour.”
The Captain nods, “Good, send out the drivers to retrieve the buggies.”
The Sergeant snaps a salute and turns on his toes, barking out orders to the men. Several scamper off into the night.
The Captain looks around the camp and lets a smile cross his muzzle. ‘Looks like everything so far is going down well, but I still think this is going too easy.’
***
Four hours later Wolf Squad is entering the rough earthen fort that has been hastily constructed during the night. The squad of buggies pull to a stop and various men run up to help the wolves extricate themselves, their gear, and their prisoners from the vehicles. As they get out of the buggies they each stretch, joints popping, then they undergo a reversal of the transformation they underwent on the plane. When they are done all the wolf-men have returned to their human forms and they finish offloading their buggies.
One man wearing lieutenant’s tabs comes running up to the Captain and salutes. “Sir, all squads are accounted for. All missions have been successful.”
“What about your squad Yuri?” asks Captain Wolver. “I never did receive a conformation of your squad’s success.”
Yuri holds up a broken device, “Main unit repeater took a lucky hit. Blew it out and I was unable to get in touch, we only returned a few minutes ago.”
“So your mission was a success other then that?”
“Yes sir, there was light resistance. No where near what the briefing information we received said we would receive.”
The Captain rubs his chin, “Hmm, that’s what all squads have said so far.” He snaps his eyes back to Yuri’s face, “Lieutenant, get all the squad leaders together in the command bunker in one hour. We have much to go over.”
Yuri salutes, “Yes sir,” and runs off to do as ordered.
Story and characters © Copyright Christopher Gilman 2002 all rights reserved
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