Firestorm - 27. FS Chapter 27

As I stood up, when they were five metres away, everyone in the advancing group stopped. I stepped forward, passing the Captain, so I was in hearing range of the Cadets. “Cadets, get down flat on the ground now, and do not make a sound, that is a direct order, now move it” I said in a loud whisper, and the Cadets did as I ordered, seeing that I am regular army, and not a Cadet Unit Commander, once all the Cadets were laying on the ground I turned to face the Captain. I activated my ear piece so the others could hear me.

“Now Captain, would you care to inform me why you disobeyed a direct order from Senior CUO Banner, which you were instructed by Lt Colonel Harding to obey” I asked the unit commander in a loud whisper, “He said it was some sort of emergency, and that we had to do as he said, I was not going to obey some young upstart who thinks he knows it all” the captain replied.

“Pass the ear piece to the Captain will you please Staff, and all squad leaders remove your pieces for two minutes please” I heard the CO say, and I heard Hamish say “Oh, oh, oops sorry” before he removed his ear piece, and I heard the CO chuckle before I took out my comm’s piece and handed it to the Captain. “Lt Colonel Harding would like to speak to you in private, the others have shut off their comm’s” I said to the captain.

After handing the ear piece to the Captain, I spotted Hamish and his WO’s quietly approaching, and I signalled them to lay down and wait, which all of them saw and recognised the signal and did as I commanded, “Finally some sensible cadets” I whispered to myself. I then signalled just Hamish to come forward to my location, which he did. I looked over towards the Captain, who was talking loudly.

“Right Hamish, get your squad which now includes all the WO’s, to round up every Cadet, and get the hell out of here, and away from this idiot Captain, head north east away from Birds Nest, don’t go beyond the boundary fence, and try and find a good hiding place. There are a number of hills that have outcrops of boulders, and some small shallow caves, get the cadets into them, remove all traces of track and camouflage the entrances, I will be with you as soon as possible” I said to Hamish, just as Mike Owens appeared.

“Follow Hamish, he is a Senior CUO now, and squad leader delta, he has all of my instructions” I said to Mike, who followed Hamish back to where the squad was laying in hiding. “Captain… shut the hell up, you are talking way too loud, we have heavily armed intruders on the property, we need to get into hiding and make as little noise as possible” I said to the Unit Commander, who took the earpiece away from near his ear, threw it at me, and stormed off in a westerly direction.

Once I had the earpiece back in my ear, I could hear the Co trying to get anyone’s attention, “Benning back again sir, he just doesn’t want to listen, and now he has stormed off towards the compound, just south of Bird’s nest” I reported, “Very well, leave him to us, if the intruders don’t get him first, I will have the MP’s arrest him and shut him up, what’s happening with your group” he CO said to me.

“I instructed Delta squad leader to get his CUO’s and WO’s to quietly round up all the Cadets, and head north east away from Bird’s nest, there are some shallow caves and boulder outcrops, which make good hiding places, and Mike Owens has appeared and has joined them” I reported, Suddenly, a new and unfamiliar voice came onto the Comm’s, Lt Colonel Harding, report what is happening regarding this Mayday call, over” he said.

“Who is speaking please sir” I heard the CO ask, this is Brigadier Murdoch, from Special Operations Command in Sydney” the voice replied, “Squad leaders, remove your ear pieces for five minutes from now” I heard he CO say, and since he didn’t specify Mike and myself, we remained connected.

“Brigadier, a few weeks ago, one of my talented young recruits, stumbled across an injured woman and her young son, on a walking track south of Perth. Since then, we have become aware that she has been fleeing an abusive ex-boyfriend, who happens to be making a big effort to locate and harm her permanently. This recruit I am speaking of is under your command, attached to the Royal Australian Engineers, as a First Responder, but he is currently on special duties as a Firearms Trainer here at the Bindoon Training Facility, just over an hour north of Perth” the CO explained.

“Is this young recruit a staff Sergeant, that I have heard good things about?” the Brigadier asked, “Yes, Sir he is, and he has a comm’s piece” the CO replied, “Staff Sergeant Mitchell Benning, reporting in Sir” I said reluctantly, “Benning, can you tell me any more about this woman, and anything about this ex- boyfriend” the Brigadier asked. “Sir, I just recently learnt, that Angela Parker’s ex- boyfriend, whose name is Dean Linton, is a senior bike gang member, and Angela witnessed some activities, that she was not supposed to see.

Angela fled when she knew that she and her 11-year-old son were in danger, nearly two years ago, and since meeting her, my Aunt and I have tried to keep them safe, but we have been followed regularly, somehow, they managed to find her every time, and with the small assistance from Lt Colonel Harding, who gave her a catering job here at Bindoon, I have been able to keep a close eye on her and her son- Tom” I explained.

“Sir, Staff Sergeant Benning has been the key leader in organising and preparing a large Cadet camp, involving 12 units from across the state, and it happens to be in progress at this moment. Two days ago, we had two intruders overpower the two MP’s and get into the dining hall during lunch time, to try and grab Ms Parker, but thanks to the skills of Staff Sergeant Benning, and his organising team of three Corporals, who are also attached to the Special Operations Command, and the Senior Cadets, who received two days of advanced training ahead of the arrival of the remainder of the cadets, they could disarm and detain the two intruders.

Because of that intrusion, I came up to Bindoon to take command of security of the facility for the remainder of the Cadet training camp, bringing with me additional MP’s and firearms for regular army personnel, about an hour ago, an MP was shot in the shoulder, as 4 heavy vehicles with about twenty heavily armed men, crashed through the closed gates of the facility. The MP is being treated and is not in danger, by pure luck, every single Cadet and Cadet Unit Commander were out doing a bush navigation exercise at four locations.

At the same time, Staff Sergeant Benning and his 3 Corporals and the 12 Cadet Under Officers, were doing a separate exercise, a variation of Search and Capture, and the Cadets on the navigation course had just passed the well-hidden CUO’s when the intruders crashed through the gates. I was able to get an alert out quickly, thanks to the quick thinking of the property caretaker.

Currently we have all Cadets accounted for, and in hiding, all but one Cadet Unit Commander are with the Cadets, while one arrogant idiot Unit Commander has stormed off through the bush, back towards the main compound, after I relieved him of his command of his Cadet unit, for failing to obey my orders. If the intruders don’t get him first, I will have the MP’s that are in hiding with me near the compound, detain him and shut him up” the CO explained.

“Very good, sounds like you have everything controlled regarding the safety of the Cadets and their Commanders, and other staff at the facility, now what are you going to do about the intruders” the Brigadier asked, and I heard the CO chuckle, “Well sir, that is where it gets interesting. We have 12 skilled CUO’s who have Paint Ball Rifles, I have given them permission to aim for any soft spot on the body, with no concern with injuries. Mainly the groin, back of the knees and neck as the key points to aim.

I also have one sharp shooter sniper, with an army issue sniper rifle, he also has a 9-mm pistol, the 3 Corporals, the MP’s and myself also have 9 mm pistols, while Warrant Officer Owens has a 9mm pistol and a regular army rifle. There are 4 other rifles at a secure location, but they cannot be reached at this point of time, due to the distance the 4 groups of Cadets are spread out” the CO replied,

“Very good, it sounds like Benning has become a very useful asset to the Army, carry on with what you have planned, just keep everyone safe, I will deploy Army Emergency services, I am also going to get the SAS regiment in the air to drop in for support, do you have a preferable location for them to land?” the Brigadier replied.

“Sir, Benning here, may I suggest they land at the Birds Nest, it is the code name for my Command post for the camp, it is located on top of Tobruk Hill, which is shown on all Topographical maps. Only my team, which includes the CUO’s, know of its exact location. There is a temporary scaffolding tower on top of the hill, at the top of the tower is all the details they need on the area where we are located, also each Squad leader has a Sat ear piece, so the regiment can contact us on those, they know me by my code name of Cub” I said.

“Oh, so you are Cub, I have heard very good things about you, I didn’t realise the connection, very well Staff Sergeant and Lt Colonel Harding, continue on, you will have the support you need by sundown, Command out” the Brigadier said, “Holy cow”, I said not realising I was still connected to the CO and Mike, until I heard them both chuckling, “Yep, you said it my friend, you have got the attention of the big brass” I heard Mike say.

“Right, let’s see how each group is going” the CO added, “Good idea sir, Attention Assault Platoon, squad leaders report in” Mike said, “Alpha Squad here, we have been on the move most of the time, we are now just north of the dam, north of the top compound” Marc reported in, “Beta Squad here, we are 2.5 clicks, south west of the north eastern compound Amos reported.

“Charlie squad here, we are near marker 6 on this navigation course” Troy reported, “Delta squad here, we are as you ordered, north east of your position Staff” Hamish reported, “Staff here, any sightings of the enemy?” I asked, and thankfully each squad there was none so far. I stopped walking for a moment, and listened carefully, I could hear a vehicle, but I couldn’t quite work out where it was coming from, because of all the hills.

“Can anyone pinpoint the location of that moving vehicle I can here” I asked after reactivating the comm’s, “Charlie squad here, sounds like it is north of our location, heading away from us, so heading north or north east” Troy reported, “I can confirm that, I can hear it south of us and a little to the east” Marc reported. “Ok stay hidden and silent” Mike ordered.

I looked at my watch, and knowing that it was well after lunch time, I stopped and sat down with Angela and Tom, who had remained with me, instead of going with the Cadets, and we had a small meal of damper, water with an orange for desserts. Using the scope of my rifle I scanned the area, and I spotted a clump of boulders on the side of a small hill, facing south west, and we gathered our gear, and quietly made our way to that location.

It was a lot better than I had expected, a large clump of boulders, with one single entry, and a large overhang, that created a shallow cave, which meant shelter from the wind and cold moisture, that will come later as darkness falls. Angela quickly set up a camping area, laying out a ground sheet for her to sit on and Tom lay down beside her, and soon fell asleep.

I whispered to Angela, that I was going to set up a sniper post close by, and to stay hidden behind the rocks, and she nodded her head in understanding, and quietly I climbed up to the top of the boulders, where I was pleased to see some low shrubs, and I quickly made a sniper’s hide, and settled in for a long remainder of the afternoon. “Mike to Mitch, do you copy” I heard Mike say in the comm’s.

“Copy you Mike, we have located an idea location, and I have a good view of the land to the south and west of my location, we are settled in for the remainder of the afternoon, how is your group, do you have enough water for everyone” I replied, “We found a fresh water spring, so we are fine for water, I too have set up a good view point, I can see a little of Bird’s Nest from here, plus a good view to the north-west, south-west and west.

Hamish has been generous with a chunk of damper, and I have my ration packs, so we have given everyone a snack, to cover the lunch that they missed” Mike replied. “Charlie Squad here, we have plenty of water and just ration packs for our group” Troy reported, “Alpha squad here, we have the same as Charlie Squad” Marc reported, “Same for Beta Squad” Amos reported.

“Just hang in there guys, reinforcements will be dropping in at dusk, if you get my meaning” I replied, and I deactivated the sat comm’s, and I started to scan the area to see if I could see any movement, and I spotted another Kangaroo, “you get let off this time, Skippy” I said quietly to myself with a smile, but that smile disappeared when I spotted something bigger than a Roo, and it was holding a gun, and just under 2 km’s away, which was within my range.

I clicked my fingers to get Angela’s attention, and she stuck her head out from under the overhang, “I put my finger to my lips and indicated to stay quiet and down, Angela nodded her head and disappeared out of sight again, and I looked into the scope again, and watched the intruder stop and look around. He had found one of the navigation markers. I tapped my comm’s, “Mitchell to Troy, one man, armed approximately 2 clicks south west of my location, and south east of your location” I said quietly,

“Paintball rifle sights not very clear, as it is out of range, you have best position, you go for it, I have all of my group bunkered down” Troy replied, “CO to Sniper, you have authorisation for shoot to kill” I heard the CO say, “Copy that Sir, please confirm, that is a shoot to kill order?” I replied, as I made a few minor adjustments. “Brigadier Murdoch here, yes you have the authorisation for shoot to kill” came an unexpected voice. “Copy that Command, shoot to kill authorised, Sniper out” I responded.

I was beginning to slowly squeeze the trigger, when another man came into view, and I released the pressure, and watched, as the two men stepped closer, and I could see that they were arguing, I smiled then once again, slowly squeezed the trigger, suddenly both men were in the one line of sight, and I pulled the trigger harder, and I watched through the scope, what seemed like minutes, but was less than two seconds.

I touched the comm’s “Sniper to Command, two target hits with one shot, both are down and not moving, over” I reported, “Command to Sniper, well done, keep us informed, over and out” the Brigadier replied. “Marc to Mitch, did I hear right, one shot two victims” I heard on the comm’s.