The Kill Zone

Colombia, May 1996

Headquarters of the South American Military Co-operation Organisation

El General hated dealing with politicians; so dealing with the defence ministers of the countries who funded Task Force 282 was a necessary evil, as far as he was concerned. This meeting, two weeks after the capture of several of his men by the Headhunters narcotics smuggling group and the subsequent deaths of five of them in the rescue, had been expected, if not welcome.

El General stared around the men in front of him. The Colombian and Peruvian ministers looked furious, hardly surprising since the five men who’d died had been from their nations. The Ecuadorian minister looked angry as well. The Uruguayan seemed like he wasn’t angry, whilst the Argentine and Brazilian looked sympathetic. The Chilean’s face was inscrutable.

“I am seriously beginning to question your fitness for command, General,” the Colombian barked. “You’ve lost another five men, after already losing four others, having a member defect with a valuable piece of technology and two of your men being crippled and forced to retire!”

El General didn’t bother to reply. Electron’s defection, taking the American laser rifle with him, becoming the notorious Cobra operative known as Steel Cobra still rankled. Pegasus and Sureshot had died heroes, thwarting a Cobra attack that also led to Tigor and Leontor’s injuries. Triton had died at Steel Cobra’s hands. Dragon had been assassinated by Ninja-Ku, who had died the previous year at the hands of the Red Shadows according to Action Force’s intelligence.

“Three of the men killed were from Colombia. My government is not happy. We are wondering if we should continue supporting this group or whether we wouldn’t be better off fighting Cobra and the Headhunters using our own military and saving several million Pesos!” The Colombian minister growled, “Screw up again and we’re out.”

El General looked at the others.

“Peru seconds Colombia,” the minister from Lima snarled.

“As does Uruguay,” came a surprising announcement. As El General turned toward the man from Montevideo, the Ecuadorian added his agreement.

The ministers stood and left, leaving the other three. El General stared at them. For a moment, no one spoke.

“Should the other nations leave, so will Chile,” the man from Santiago finally said. “The Task Force will not be supported by us without the others any more.”

The Chilean left.

“Brazil will operate the unit by itself if necessary,” the minister said. “Although, should you screw up, General, we will not hesitate to replace you.”

“Argentina will continue to support the Task Force,” the final minister spoke. “As long as it exists.”

El General stood, “Thank you for your qualified support.” He walked out, not bothering to wait to be dismissed or to salute.

TF 282 Headquarters,

Argentina

Two hours later

El General arrived back at the Task Force’s headquarters to see a group of seven men standing at the entrance, apparently waiting for him.

“Sir!” snapped one of the men, with a salute. “New members reporting for duty, sir!”

El General returned the salute. There were several recruits going through the TF282 selection programme at the moment. These were the first graduates. Most were replacing the recent losses. “You are?” he asked.

“Sergeant Matanza, sir,” the burly man replied, his accent betrayed his Argentine heritage. “Drill instructor.”

El General nodded. “Good to meet you, Sergeant.”

“Permit me to introduce the others, sir. My fellow Argentines, Alado and Risco. Alado is a paratrooper, Risco a mountaineering specialist.”

Both indicated men saluted. El General returned it.

“From Brazil, Muralha, the strategy officer; Midnight, the sniper; Coyote, the scout and Rocket Man, the anti-tank specialist.” Matanza went on.

The four Brazilians saluted. El General looked at Rocket Man.

“I hope you last longer than our previous two anti-tank men, son. Dragon and Cohete were only with us a short time before they both died.”

Rocket Man smiled, nervously, “I’ll do my best, General.”

The flag officer nodded in return. “Good. Now, I hate to be rude, but I must get on, we have a mission about to launch. See Manleh for any assignments he might have.”

“Yessir!” Matanza replied with another crisp salute.

Minutes later, El General arrived at the briefing room where the team for the mission were waiting. Condor was leading the team, Topson, Shimik and Athena rounded out the group.

“You read the brief?” El General asked.

“Yes sir, we have,” Condor replied. “Seems like a straightforward enough mission, go to this old mining town, pick up the Brazilian intelligence officer and bring him back here. Hopefully with no trouble from The Coil.”

“That’s the hard part,” El General replied, “Seeing as he’s infiltrated them. The Americans and the others have been successful in thwarting several of The Coil’s plans over the past year or so, now they’re trying to make in-roads in South America. It’s up to us to stop them before they get very far.”

El General looked around the group. “Any questions?” No one replied. “Then take one of those new Hammer jeeps we got from the Americans and head out. No sense wasting time, the informant should be there in a couple of days and it’ll take you that long to drive up there. Flying a helicopter in will draw too much attention. Stay in touch.”

The team nodded and headed out.

Two days later

Rio de Ouro, Brazil

The town of Rio de Ouro was small and had been abandoned only a few months after it had been built when the mining company who built it went bust. Ten buildings were clustered around fountain in the main square. They hadn’t even had time to build the housing.

As the Hammer jeep drive up the dusty track that constituted the road into the town, Condor frowned as he looked up at the water tower that loomed large over the west of the town. He’d thought for a second he’d seen someone on the catwalk around the tower, but couldn’t see anyone now.

Shimik brought the Hammer to a halt at the edge of town. A man dressed in jeans and a flannel shirt stood next to the fountain.

The commandos climbed out of the Hammer and walked toward him, the clapboard sides of a cantina and a hotel either side of the path toward the town. Each of the team carried an M16 assault rifle, holding it casually across their chests.

Condor was leading the group. As such, he was scanning around even though the town seemed deserted and the intelligence officer was unarmed and not even moving.

Suddenly there was the crack of a rifle. In front of Condor’s eyes, the intelligence officer dropped, a straight headshot had taken him out.

“SNIPER!” Condor bellowed. “Cover!”

Shimik pivoted to the left, charged the hotel and kicked in the side door. He disappeared inside, Athena following him in. Condor ducked, just as a second shot rang out, the bullet hit hotel wall with a loud ‘pock’ noise. Topson snapped up his rifle and fired off a short burst at the church tower, above the fountain.

“Cover!” Condor shouted again as he ran into the hotel. Topson was seconds behind him as a third shot hit the ground behind the radio operative.

The hotel interior was dim, dusty and smelt musty. Shimik and Athena were crouched in the lobby area, which had a staircase to the east side and a bar on the right. A large picture window dominated the front of the building next to the entrance. Condor waved them toward the kitchens next to the bar.

“Get back from the window!” he snapped. “Don’t let the sniper get a glimpse of you!”

The commandos regrouped in the kitchens.

Before they could speak, automatic gunfire split the air. Bullets slammed into the hotel walls as several machine-guns opened fire. The picture window shattered.

“We need to get the hell out of here,” Shimik said. “We’ve been set up!”

“The intel officer must have been turned,” Athena said. “Or at least they knew he was a mole.”

“Worry about that later,” Condor replied. “We need to get to the Hammer and get out of here.”

The gunfire dropped off after a few moments.

“Let’s find a back door and get out,” Condor said. The team moved past the rusty kitchen cookers and dust coated work surfaces to where a pair of double doors was visible. Condor opened the doors just in time to see a light anti-tank rocket streak past, trailing smoke before it slammed into the Hammer and blew it to pieces.

Condor ducked back inside, shoving Shimik over in his haste.

“Madre di dios,” Athena yelped as a wheel flew out of the fireball and bounced off the wall above the doors.

Topson helped Condor slam the doors shut once more.

“Get on the radio to HQ,” Condor told him, “We need back up and an extraction.”

“It’s not a radio, it’s a satellite phone,” Topson reminded him, as he pulled out the device in question. The satellite phone resembled a walkie-talkie, but thicker, and with a large thick antenna that Topson positioned so it pointed straight up.

He dialled the headquarters number. It was answered after the second ring.

“El Dorado, this is Inca One-Six. We’re under attack from a large Coil force.”

“Stand by, Inca One-Six,” came the reply.

Seconds later, El General spoke. “Inca One-Six, send sitrep.”

“Inca One-Six is under attack in the town. Our Hammer has been destroyed and the intel agent is dead. We are pinned down and need immediate evac.”

“''Inca One-Six, we’re scrambling evac now. Try to hold them off. Helicopters will be there within the hour.”''

“Roger that, El Dorado.” El General hung up.

Topson shoved the phone back in his pocket. “We need to hold out for about an hour, until evac can get here,” he informed the others.

An explosion rocked the building and threw the commandos off their feet. As the group tried to get up, another explosion rocked the building.

“They’re firing bloody anti-tank rockets at the building,” Shimik cursed. “We need to get out of here!”

“Keep calm!” Condor snapped. “I’ll fire at the water tower, that must be where they’re firing from. The rest of you cross the street to the next building. Remember to watch out for the sniper in the church tower.”

Shimik and Topson pulled the doors open. Condor dived out, hit the ground and rolled, before coming to his feet and firing his M16 at the water tower. Bullets slammed into the tower, spraying water out over the catwalk. Three rounds hit a Coil trooper in the chest and he pitched over the rail and dropped to the ground. Condor heard running footsteps behind him. He fired another burst at the water tower, before spinning around and running.

Two shots from the sniper rang out as he reached the corner of the hotel. The other three commandos had made it to the back of the other building.

“He missed us!” Topson called.

“Cover me!” he hollered back.

Athena reached her M16 around the corner of the building and sprayed a wild burst of automatic fire at the church. Just as she did, Condor sprinted forward, not even daring to look at the church.

A sniper round whipped over his head as he neared the building and dove forward like a swimmer off the blocks.

Condor hit the ground with a grunt and slid a good foot forward. He scrambled to his feet.

“That was a LAW-Snake on the water tower,” he commented as he leaned against the building. “I recognised the uniform from the reports we had from the Europeans.”

“Coil anti-tank trooper,” muttered Athena. “That explains the Hammer and the explosions. He must have fired on the hotel to get us to move.”

Condor just nodded as Shimik opened the door to the building and they ducked inside.

This building was a single storey cantina, a bar across the back of the room, stocked with dusty bottles of spirits. Tables were scattered across the rest of the room. A large picture window dominated the right side of the front wall.

Coil troops were advancing across the square; some were regular troops carrying assault rifles. A few were Blitz-Snakes, the Coil’s machine-gunners, carrying Russian RPDs or MARS MG5 machine-guns.

Shimik and Topson didn’t waste time or wait for Condor’s orders; instead they simply opened fire, dropping a Coil trooper each. The Coil troops responded by firing their own weapons from the hip, shattering the window, and perforating the door.

All four commandos returned fire, even as they ducked behind the bar.

“We’re pinned down,” Shimik snapped at Condor. “What do we do now, fearless leader?” The sarcasm was uncalled for, Condor thought, but didn’t comment.

Instead of answering, he pulled a grenade from his webbing, pulled the pin and threw it at the wall.

“Cover!” he snapped. The grenade blew a hole in the wall, with flames licking at the edges.

“Move it!” Condor snapped.

The team dove through the burning hole one after another. Sniper rounds flew past as they hit the ground, scrambled up and ran to the next building. Which was the town’s jail. The four commandos ducked around the side of the jail, out of view of the sniper.

Athena peeked around the wall. “The Coil troops are coming,” she reported.

Condor dropped to the ground, wriggling around so he could lie prone at the corner. He took aim with his M16. Shimik knelt behind him, so he could fire over him. Athena stood behind Shimik, so she would be firing over him. Topson moved to the opposite end of the building to keep an eye out for Coil troops.

One after another, the other three opened fire, dropping Coil troops and Blitz-Snakes. A second barrage of fire dropped the rest.

“Company!” called Topson, “Coil troops coming from the north, along the side of the buildings here.”

Athena and Shimik quickly moved to join him as Condor scrambled back to his feet.

Topson dropped to the ground, with Athena kneeling over him and Shimik standing. They opened fire in quick succession. At the other end of the building, Condor was busy firing at Coil troops that were swarming through the gaps between the cantina and the hotel and the cantina and the jail.

“We’re out-numbered!” he yelled. “I need some help over here!”

Shimik hurried over. The pair kept up the fire; short bursts dropping one Coil gunman after another, quickly reloading. Athena joined them.

“They’re pulling back that side,” she said.

Suddenly, the sound of gunfire was drowned out by the scream of jet engines getting closer. Condor risked a look upwards.

A Sky Hawk flew over the town at high speed and low altitude. The compact, wingless aircraft span around in the air, like a helicopter. The twin engines visibly shifted positions as the pilot whipped the aircraft around.

The Task Force had bought the small aircraft from the Americans a few years earlier. No one had bothered flying the tilt-jet on a mission before, as Glenda had preferred to use either the Tomahawk, Dragonfly or captured FANGs. Tracer fire from a light machine-gun flashed upward at the Sky Hawk as it hovered over the town. The small craft slipped sideways, then lowered its nose and the chin-mounted machineguns opened fire. Bright flashes of tracer flashed down at the town and the fire from the ground stopped. The Sky Hawk slowly moved around over the town, firing brief bursts at the buildings and troops.

Minutes later, as the Sky Hawk continued to hover overhead, the heavy thunder of rotors began to beat the air.

The commandos looked south and saw a Dragonfly and a Tomahawk speeding toward the town. The Sky Hawk’s engines roared and it flashed away at speed. The Dragonfly thundered over the town, firing off 20mm chain-gun rounds. The Tomahawk dropped down near the jail, a cloud of dust thrown up by the rotors.

Condor watched as six figures emerged from the haze around the large twin-rotor transport. Leading the group was Manleh. With him were Estopim, SOS the group’s main medic, Alado, Coyote and Midnight.

“Hey, Captain,” Manleh called. “We got here as fast as we could.”

“Who was flying the Sky Hawk?” asked Condor.

“Martillo. He’s been practising on it. We’ve got an Argentine Air Force flight crew on the Tomahawk. Sokerk and Glenda are flying the Dragonfly.”

The large attack helicopter fired a missile into one of the abandoned town buildings, blowing it apart just as Manleh spoke.

“There’s a sniper in the church tower,” Shimik put in.

Manleh turned to Coyote, who was carrying a large radio handset. The scout relayed the report and seconds later the Dragonfly looped around and fired a single shell from the large cannon mounted on the left skid. The church tower exploded in a shower of wooden fragments.

“Let’s get out of here!” Manleh suggested. The Dragonfly thundered overhead, firing its chain-gun at the buildings, smashing them apart.

The commandos quickly clambered aboard the Tomahawk and it lifted off, speeding south, leaving the dust cloud behind it.

The intercom squawked. “Battleaxe, this is Draco,” came Glenda’s voice. “''I have a visual on a battered Ford pick- up heading north away from the town. Am I clear to engage?”''

“Negative, Draco,” replied Manleh. “We’re moving out. Leave it.”

Shimik leaned out the door of the transport helicopter and watched as the Dragonfly came around and flew after them.

The helicopters headed back to the TF282 headquarters.

Condor looked at Manleh. “We ought to send a forensics and intelligence team back to that town. We might find out something useful from the bodies.”

The sergeant nodded. “We ought to recover the body of that poor bastard intel agent as well. I’ll call it into the general. We’ll need to go in with more men and some air support in case the Coil stay put.”

The next day, a convoy of Task Force 282 trucks arrived at the abandoned town, with a Dragonfly hovering overhead.

The Commandos, along with a team of forensics specialists from the Argentine Army, carefully went through the ruined town, collecting the corpses of the Coil troops, the body of the Brazilian Intelligence officer and finally the wreckage of the Hammer jeep. One team dug through the rubble of the church.

Finally, the senior officer reported to Condor and Manleh.

“Sir, the church was empty. We found the remains of rations and a few burnt weapons, but no bodies. It seems as though the sniper may have escaped,” The forensics specialist reported.

Manleh and Condor looked at one another. “The pick-up,” they said in unison.

Condor cursed. “That’s all we need. We lost our mole and now we’ve let a high value target get away too.”

Manleh shrugged. “He might’ve just been a Coil trooper, albeit a sniper. He didn’t shoot any of you, after all.”

Condor looked at him with a narrow-eyed glare. “You think the politicans’ll believe that? The only reason he didn’t hit any of us was luck on our side. They’ll see it as a failure, you wait.”

Manleh nodded. “Let’s get back and tell El General.”

Task Force 282 Will Return In:

Terror In Brazil