Chapter 1:
Several silhouettes resembling westerners, marched into a secret encampment within the vast Sahara desert, adorned in tactical uniform and weaponry.
The encampment was composed of several empty looking buildings yet they knew that this place was far from empty.
But just then, their leaders blood turned cold when he heard a sound behind them, his countless years of battle experience told him they'd just been had.
Turning around in alarm, he confirmed his worst fears, an enemy was right behind them in the midst of raising his assault rifle.
" F*ck! take–" the captain tried yelling.
Thud.
But the words died in his throat when a bullet sized hole emerged on the enemies forehead before the enemy dropped dead on the ground the next second.
Seeing this, the hearts of the 3 other soldiers began to calm down, a wave of relief washing over them.
The captain on the other hand turned to glance in the direction the bullet had come from.
Though faint, he noticed a faint glimmer outside the encampment several hundreds of meters away.
' Well I'll be, that darn Merc really was worth the talk.' he couldn't help saying, feeling quite impressed.
They then continued their mission.
One of the men scouted ahead, each time they encountered an unknown personnel, they would drop down dead before even being able to pull their trigger.
Even those who snuck up on them dropped without a sound, courtesy of their sharp shooter who had already positioned himself on an elevated angle to offer support when needed.
Eventually, all four men stopped behind a few iron barrels with their leader squatting down with his back on the barrel.
" Alright, were almost there everyone. Just a few more feet and we'll be able to retrieve the target."
" Come what may, the lot of us are all leaving this place alive, you here me." He said, his voice filled with conviction and his 3 comrades nodded with stern gazes.
Each and everyone of them were aware of the risks involved in this extraction mission. They were tasked with saving a congressman who had been kidnapped by hostile forces, which forced them to thread all the way here, deep within enemy lines.
After making sure the cost was clear. The 4 soldier's advanced into one of the buildings.
This time around they didn't use the Mercs aid, but acted like a proper militia unit, entering formation and searching throughout the building, each time they encountered a hostile enemy, they would terminate them without causing a ruckus.
They continued to do this until they arrived at the top floor, where a final room stood before them.
The captain gestured for one of them to kick open the door whilst the rest of them stood at the ready.
The assigned soldier nodded and kicked open the door, within less than a split second, the other two plus the captain stormed into the room.
Spotting a hostile enemy behind a man strapped to a torture chair.
Bullets flied as the soldiers neutralised the target. But unfortunately, the target had fired off a few shots before dropping dead.
While non of the soldiers suffered severe injuries, the captain's expression turned grim because he knew those unsilenced fired shoots had already alerted the entire encampment about their presence.
One of the soldiers then went to free the captive man.
" Don't worry sir, you're safe now." The soldier that was untying the captive said.
" Reporting to home base, target has been found and is now safely within custody, requesting retrieval now." The captain pressed a hand against the communication device against his ear.
[Read you loud and clear soldier, retrieval will arrive shortly, please proceed to the assigned location.]
" You heard them, secure the congressmen and begin to move out!" The captain ordered.
" Yes Sir!" The soldiers saluted in unison.
One of them secured the injured congressmen, helpling him to stay on his feet, while two others stayed at their rear end, with the Captain taking on the position of vanguard.
Like that, they exited the building.
Noticing that no one had arrived yet, they quickly hurried forward in order to escape the encampment on time.
Unfortunately, non of them were aware that they were currently being watched through the scope of a hidden sniper.
The enemy revealed a cruel smile as he began to align his scope, it didn't take long before the scope was positioned on the captain's head.
PUTUI!
A bullet was fired.
Alas, the one to drop dead was the hidden sniper, for the fired bullet wasn't his, but one that had pierced through his scope, through his right eye, and out through his skull, painting his area with blood.
******
The captain's heart was filled with hope as they neared the edge of the encampment, were he spotted a wrangler, a tactical military jeep, but that was also when he spotted several hostile targets from the corner of his eyes.
" They've found us." The captain cursed their luck as he turned around and opened fire on the unsuspecting hostiles.
BANG! BANG!!
One of them dropped dead while the others took cover.
" Get the congressman to the tactical jeep, I'll hold them off for now." He gave his orders and his men obeyed.
While one soldier supported the congressman towards the tactical jeep, the other two covered him along with the Captain.
Bullets flew all over the place along with sparks, the area turning noisy.
The captain although anxious, still stood his ground, using a building edge as cover while continuing to open fire.
" GARRGH!" But the captain's blood ran cold when he heard a death cry from behind him.
He took cover and turned around, only to see one of the men covering him, dropped dead on the ground, blood pooling out of the hole on his forehead, along with dregs of brain matter.
" Damnit!" The man slammed a clenched fist on the ground before quickly resuming fire.
After awhile more, the other soldier covering him also dropped dead and the captain received a strey bullet to his thigh.
" Nghnnn!" The man clenched his teeth,
groaning in pain.
Right then it looked like all hope was lost, but that was when he heard the sound of a jeep come to life.