The Dragunov Rifle, Pt. Two

That night, the only sound off of bad point was the faint slap of the ocean against the shore, and against the two small Zodiacs that danced on the waves. The gang had met at Jim's house and discussed the situation. Nate hadn't been seen that day. No one around knew where he was. So they pulled out the two inflatables and went in that night. As they pulled up on shore, the moon came out from behind the clouds. "Alright, spread out and look around," said Johnny. Each kid pulled out a two-way and a headset. "Channel two." Each spread out, working over the large surface of the island.1

William was searching when he heard Sparks scream. He rushed off to her, and found her losing her lunch all over the ground. He looked and found what had caused this. Nate Crawford lay behind a bush, a round bullet hole in the middle of his forhead. "Six, this is Tucker. We found Crawford."2

"Is he okay?"3

"Negative. He's dead. Repeat, Crawford is down. Single gunshot to the forehead, looks like a nine-mike, or maybe a .45."4

"I highly suggest we go home, or at least call the cops," added Specs.5

"Before we report, I advise we do a further recon of the AO, gather intel. But this is officially a hot zone, so buddy up, and if you're heeled, I suggest you draw it now. Rendezvous at the LZ in thirty." William took his own advice and a K-bar appeared in his hand. "Sparks, if you're done, let's go." They set out, looking for any other suspicious things.6

Ten minutes later Specs came over the line. "Guys, I found an opening, like a cave under the rocks where we saw that guy on Nate's boat unloading crates. It looks like a multiple rooms from here."7

"Hold position. Will back you up. You armed?"8

"Does a penknife count?"9

"For now. Just hold and we'll be there in three. Everyone else, converge on the brainiac's position."10

When they arrived, William saw Specs by the entrance to the cave. Johnny was next to him. "Sitrep?" said William.11

"Looks like multiple rooms, just like Specs said. No other sign of activity other than the unloading this afternoon."12

"Stack up and follow me. Low and slow, scan for bogies."13

"Do what?" asked Sparks.14

"Stay crouched, and if you see someone who ain't us, let us know. Preferably without talking or making noise. Now stack up and follow me." They went in, crouched. William took stock of their armament. A K-bar, two pocketknives, and Sparks had a pair of brass knuckles. They came to a fork in the path, and veered right, following the tracks of handcarts. They came to a vaulted chamber, filled with many crates, marked in many languages.15

Sparky went to one of them, and looked at the markings. "It's in some other alphabet. I can't read it."16

Specs came up beside her. "It's Cyryllic. I can't read much, but this word is 'Abtomat'." He moved to others. "'Strela'. 'Snaiperskaya'. What do they mean? These labels are in Chinese, and these in Korean."17

Johnny rooted around, and found a door leading into an office. In there he found documents, in foreign languages, as well as English. In the English ones, there was repeated mention of "The Base".18

"Will, I found an office. Lots of documents in different languages, and a couple in English. Lots of talk about something called 'The Base', and lots of mention of a fellow called the Lion Tamer."19

William heard this, and it all fell into place. The killing of Nate, the underground tunnels, the crates in other languages. "Guys, form up on me. This is too hot for us. We need to alert more than just the cops."20

"Why? What's going on?" asked Sparks.21

"Specs, how do you say 'The Base' in Arabic?"22

Specs got a look of utter terror on his face, and stammered, "Al Qaeda."23

William nodded. "As of right now we are evacuating this AO. We'll need evidence for the cops. Johnny, bring those documents. Specs, Sparks, help me open these crates. And by the way, Specs, I know what all those words you said mean. They were Russian. Abtomat is automatic rifle. Strela is the designation for the SA-7 surface-to-air missile, literally, 'Arrow'. Snaiperskaya is sniper rifle. We're in the middle of an arms cache. From the preliminary intel, it seems there's an active cell somewhere in the area, and they're stocking up arms. I suppose poor Nate got hired to haul arms, and finally grew a conscience. Now help me open these crates." They broke open the crates, and found piece after piece of weaponry. AK's, M-16's, rocket launchers, enough to arm an army. William took two AK's and an M-16. He handed one of the SA-7's to Johnny, followed by an RPG-7v rocket-propelled grenade. Specs took a Chinese bullpup rifle and a couple dozen grenades. Sparks staggered under the weight of two huge rifles, and one small, slender one with a wooden stock. "Here, Sparky, you take my assault rifles, and I'll take those long guns. I'm impressed. Two Barret M82 Fifty-cals, and Dragunov sniper rifles. I never knew you could tote that much."24

"I work out."25

"Let's cut the chatter and get out of here," said Johnny irritably. He glanced through the window of the office at a monitor. It showed a security camera feed of the tunnel entrance. Right then it showed five men with handguns coming their way. "Crap! We've got company. Five of them, headed our way."26

"We must have tripped an alarm. Well, we could try and break for the other tunnel, see if it leads to a back door. But we'd be headed right toward the tangos. We could try and make a stand, but I have doubts about whether or not you guys could handle it."27

"We need to run. We need to get out of here as fast as we can," said Specs.28

"Here's the plan," began William. "We lock and load. We head for the entrance, and when we get signal, one of us calls my dad. As soon as he picks up, tell him where we are, what's going on, and if he doesn't believe you, hand it to me. Now, lock and load. If we get caught out we'll need to defend ourselves." As if to underscore that point, he racked the bolt on the Dragunov.29

They set out grim-faced, each anticipating his own demise.30