P...e...a...t...'...s
P...a...r...a...g...r...a...p...h...s
C O L U M N S
Peat's
Paragraphs
According
to James
A Short
Perspective
Blue Bank
Woman
A Letter
from Lea
Jots by
Jerusha
F E A T U R E S
ClanPower
Clan Kids
Korner
Benedict's
Nine
Interactive
Story
Thanks for
visiting.
The
Operation
b
y . R i t a
I SHIFTED my legs underneath me just enough to keep the blood flowing,
yet my body remained hunkered down, ready to spring into action at any
given moment. I could see the very beginnings of daylight peaking over
the hills in the east as dawn approached.
.
. .
"What time is it?" asked Clint in a low whisper
slightly behind me.
.
. . "Five-thirty," I replied.
.
. .
"Come on, guys," Seth encouraged as we'd all been
doing throughout night. "Thirty more minutes. We can make it."
.
. .
I knew he was right, if we could hold out these last thirty
minutes we'd be safe and the only camp who'd survived Him.
.
. . I couldn't figure out if the past eleven and a half hours
had gone slow or fast. All I really knew for sure at that point, as I
squatted with my three allies between our tent and the jeep Holly happened
to have parked in the ideal spot to create a barricade, was the night
had not been what I'd anticipated.
.
. . The seventeen of us who would be maintaining camps through
the night had met with the base command operators at 6:00 the evening
before where we were assigned stations and positions and given a code
booklet (which for confidential purposes will not be included in this
documentation).
.
. . They'd prepared us for what we'd been expecting months
in advance of the operation; a night of communication between the four
camps to Base Command reporting all activity in the area. At the most,
we may have predicted an attempted infiltration, but nothing more.
.
. . But there we were, one hundred percent alert crouched low to
the cool wet ground, ready for anything.
.
. .
"Ische! Askrabo ton bihn!" cried the grungy prisoner
lying face down in the grass beside Seth. He spoke gruffly, in a gibberish
language none of us could identify.
.
. . "Shut up," Seth ordered him, giving him a shove of
authority.
.
. . Our other prisoner remained quiet as Holly kept him down.
He must have been nervous, knowing there was little time left for him
to be rescued.
.
. . The four of us kept our backs close, surveying the surrounding
area in all directions. Holly held her flashlight secure but off. We'd
found out earlier in the night having it on when not necessary only attracted
the enemy to our exact hideout. Clint had disarmed our prisoners and was
keeping their weapons safe. My radio was close at hand ready to call in
for engagement confirmation.
.
. .
Seth looked more intense than anyone. His sweaty hands gripped
his gun tightly. While there was only thirty minutes remaining, we all
new that meant we were in the greatest amount of danger yet. Our adversary
would be making it's final attempt to take out all four stations. We had
to survive.
.
. . I had begun the night as Delta Camp's Commander. For the most
part we'd kept good order with little or no commotion. Still we'd been
exceptionally prepared. Hearing the reports coming from the other teams
had warned us we were in more danger than we'd anticipated when setting
up camp.
.
. . We only had one infiltrator. He'd almost caught us off-guard,
but fortunately, our gunner, Clay, had been quick on his feet and sharp
with his aim. We'd captured him and had him sent to Base Command.
.
. . It was nearly 3:00 when my transfer took place. A Bravo team
member was being sent off the grounds all together, leaving Bravo with
only three rangers. Our Delta team, being the only who hosted five, was
ordered a move. Brendan would take over as Commander and I was to wait
for one Base Command's vehicles to transport me down the road and across
the waters to my new location.
.
. . Upon my arrival, I was quite nervous. Previously, I may
have been accompanied by two of the youngest members on duty that night,
but Brendan and Clay had been mightily skilled and we'd preformed well
together at Delta. Bravo welcomed me with two shivering campers next to
the fire and the gunner wrapped warmly in a blanket as if ready for a
bed time story. They were sitting ducks and I was about to join them.
.
. . Luckily things did not remain so dead-beat. I fired up the
spirits of my new ranger allies and Holly welcomed me as Co-commander.
But things outside of Bravo were darkening.
.
. . "Alpha has been compromised," came a voice over
the radio. "It's a mess out here. They're down. The camp is down."
.
. . Fear shot through me. Holly, Clint, Seth and I passed looks
of terror and confusion. We couldn't figure out what it meant. They'd
been... compromised? What did it mean? How severe was it actually? How did
it happen? There were so many questions being shouted back and forth.
.
. . "What's happened to Alpha? What's going on?"
Brendan's voice from Delta transmitted the questions the rest of us were
afraid to ask.
.
. . We all anxiously awaited the reply. Those were our friends,
teammates. They were protecting the main entrance to the land. With them
gone, anyone could pass in freely!
Static on the radio seized our attention. "You are on a need-to-know
basis only," ordered the very strict in tone from Base Command.
.
. . The reply had shut out all hopes for an explanation or reassurance
that everything was under control. Things were serious, whether we liked
it or not, so we knew we had to get serious.
.
. . The one-way entrance to Bravo Camp was very much to our
advantage. We set up an observation system with Holly and I shining our
flashlights directly down the entrance path. Ten meters in front of us
off to the side Seth stooped low behind Holly's jeep, gun in hand. The
tent, which we'd all accepted would not be used this night, sat behind
him with the fire on the other side. Clint was diligently keeping our
light and heat source going.
.
. . The night was quiet and the chatter on the radios had died
down as people had gotten tired and realized the severity of this operation.
.
. . It was the firewood delivery that did us in. Our supply
running low, we'd called in a request for additional.
.
. . "I hope they come soon," Holly told me sitting on
the cooler by my side as our flashlights shone brightly ahead. "Then
we can relax for a bit."
.
. . The headlights from the white diesel truck coming down
the lane relieved the four of us. It brought a sense of security to us
all to see faces from Base Command to inform us of the status the other
camps. Little did we realize we were more at risk then than anytime.
.
. . The delivery truck was ready to head out and make rounds to
the other sites. Directing the driver's backing-up towards the jeep, I
heard distinct movement in the shrubs behind me.
.
. . "Holly! Holly, get over here! I heard something... just,
just watch my back."
.
. . She walked over quickly, but confused. Seth followed her, the
gun ready.
.
. . "I don't know...," I said. "I think I heard..."
.
. . "Aaaah!" came the cry from behind as a heavy hand
came down on my shoulder pulling me backward. I felt it more in my gut
though as a fear seized me. He'd leaped from behind the jeep before Holly
or I could do a thing about it. The split second after he'd done so, another
masked man shot out from the shrubs I'd heard the movement in.
Failure consumed me as I realized what had happened. The pace of my heard
hadn't slowed. Then we remembered we had Base Command there. The two men
had infiltrated our camp, but not defeated it.
.
. . Our adrenaline was pumping more than ever now with a little
less than two hours remaining. The area had cleared out and it was back
to the four of us when I thought I'd heard more movement from the same
spot our last enemy had come from. The consideration that I was now only
paranoid came to mind, but was quickly dismissed. It was too risky. We
jumped in front of the jeep where Seth had been stationed previously.
The tent guarded our backs and the pond was to our right. The suspicious
hedge sat opposite us, behind the jeep.
.
. . We sat still for sometime, awaiting any sign of what may
be hunting us. Time passed and no more noise was heard and the light of
our flashlights could find nothing that seemed live or human.
.
. . "Maybe it was just an animal," Holly suggested.
. . . It was another consideration all of us were making, but were still too
scared to take our attention off the brush. We continued radioing the
status to Base Command who could be of no help on verifying what was going
on.
.
. . "HEY! Did you see it? The red light!" the exclamation
jumped out of me without a second thought.
.
. . "I did! I did!" Clint yelled. "I saw it!
It was his laser!" .
. . "We've got you covered! Come out with your hands in the
air!" Seth ordered.
.
. . Our enemy refused though. Seth maintained watch in his
direction while Holly and I kept close eye on the fields to our left.
We all knew these spies tended to come in pairs and never alone.
.
. . POP! POP! POP! Seth's gun fired grabbing our attention. The
man had leaped from his position but done so too quickly for any of us
to see where he'd landed himself.
I became totally aware of my surroundings at this point. Where could he
have possibly went to? I was shaking and found myself slipping around
the curved sides of the tent along with Holly and Clint. I was clueless
now and felt there was nothing I could do. He knew exactly where we were
sitting and we didn't have the slightest notion which direction he'd be
coming from.
.
. . Now, I still can't tell you how he did it... perhaps too many
years of watching combat movies. Seth never forgot his duty as the gunman
and remained ready. With nerves overtaking the other two and I, his sudden
demand made us jump.
.
. . "A flashlight! Give me a flashlight!" he commanded
swiping Holly's from her hand. He bent down even further shining the light
under the jeep. Before I could even get a glimpse of what he might be
able to see he told us.
.
. . "He's under the car!" His cry came out muffled by
the sound of his firing gun. He was relentless on our foe, and cries came
from beneath the vehicle. Seth did take him out, but from that point on
we were paranoid, letting every slight noise scare us.
.
. . During our fiasco the same attacker who'd taken out Alpha
earlier in the night had compromised Charlie Camp. He attempted an attack
on us later, in which neither of us succeeded, but we knew with the departure
of our camp the man would be heading for the last one on the list: Delta.
We'd tried our best to warn them.
.
. . "Delta, this is Bravo Commander Holly. You guys need to
be ready. They're coming for you next. Be alert!" she warned. Grief
overtook us shortly thereafter as we heard the sounds of the gun firing
from down the valley and the loud cries. We knew before the report came
across the radio. He'd compromised Delta.
.
. . And then we had thirty minutes left. We'd been hit again,
but our keen awareness had allowed us to take the two agents captive.
The fog from the pond beside us restricted our view but the light forming
in the sky was slowly making up for it.
.
. . "Attention all camps," the voice of base command
called from my radio. We were all eager to hear our instructions. "We
are making a communication change. All radio contact is being switched
to gold. A check will be made in five minutes. All stations switch to
gold."
.
. . One look and I knew we all were thinking the same thing.
.
. . "What's gold?" Clint asked.
.
. . "I have no idea," I admitted. We'd only been
given the code key that night. There was no way any of us could have had
the entire thing memorized.
.
. . "We left the codes by the fire," Holly said in panic.
"We're going to have to go get it or we can't switch!" We all
knew she was right. But the fire, along with the answer to our question
was sitting right out in the open. A perfect target.
"I'll go get it," volunteered Seth.
.
. . I immediately disagreed. "No. You can't. You're the gunner,
you've got to stay here."
.
. . "Clint, you go," Holly ordered.
.
. . "Why me?" The youngster looked at Holly with
a scowl upon his face, hating to be bossed around.
.
. . "Just do it Clint, you're quick and you're the smallest,"
she told him with frustration.
.
. . "I'll cover you Clint," Seth reassured him with a
pat on the back.
.
. . "Okay," he finally accepted. Taking the order
from Seth seemed easier for him.
.
. . His run back and forth went safely and we made the radio switch
just in time.
.
. . We crouched back into the position we had been in for
nearly two hours. And just when we thought maybe our night of suspense
had drawn to a close, crackling slipped to our ears. He was back. He was
in those same bushes all of our attackers seemed to find as the perfect
fort.
.
. . Seth began yelling demands at Him to come out. There was no
way he was going to defeat us at this point. We were perfecting this drill.
Yet, by then, defending our camp was no longer Seth's goal. He wanted
to take Him down. He had succeeded in compromising all of the camps and
Seth would have none of it.
.
. . How everything happened is still somewhat of a blur in
my mind. As we watched closely for any movements He tried to make, suddenly
we saw a silhouette with it's hands slowly raising in the air standing
just outside the field on the edge of the road.
.
. . "What's he doing?" Holly asked in a panic.
"I don't know," I replied equally confused. My heart rate was
quickening. He had to have some master plan. Was he even alone? "Is
he surrendering?"
.
. . Just as we came to believe this to be true, the silhouette
turned making a mad dash into the fog. I had no time to think. Seth shot
up from his low position, standing tall now firing into the mist. My head
was in a whirl when our gunner then took off at a speed I'd never seen
him present before. He disappeared into the whiteness as well as his crazy
firing continued. It blasted loudly, nonstop like that of a machine gun.
What was he doing?
.
. . We were all freaked out and on our feet. "Seth!!
Seth come back!" Holly shrieked after him, terror spilling from her
voice. "He's going to kill you!"
.
. . Though there was none other than that of his gun, noise consumed
my ears and energy pumped through my veins like never before that night.
We were so close, so close to ending this thing, and what was he doing?
.
. . Then there was a cry and the firing stopped. The three
of us stood out in the open for the first time in hours no longer worried
that we were free targets but now had our eyes glued to the lane both
our ally and enemy had vanished into.
.
. . Then we saw him. Running towards us Seth had a smile stretching
from ear to ear.
.
. . "I got him!" he cried joyously. "I was
running out of CO2 but I hit him before I went totally out!"
.
. . We all began to talk at once after that. We had ten minutes
remaining until our drill was over, but we knew we were no longer at any
risk.
.
. . "Yeah, I have plenty of paintballs left," Seth explained
still on cloud nine. "But my CO2 canister is empty. That's why I
was just firing away. But I hit Uncle Jeff just before it went dry. I
didn't even know what I was shooting at!"
.
. . "Yeah, we heard it!" Clint exclaimed. You could see
the exhilaration of the young boy clearly in his face. I was really proud
of the eight-year-old for holding out the night as well as he had and
without arguing much with his older sister.
.
. . "Did you hear Holly screaming?"
.
. . "I didn't hear anything really!"
.
. . I even had to admit, I was impressed with the combat skills
my brother had shown through the whole night, and never had I seen him
move so quick as he had when taking off after our Uncle.
.
. . A celebrated cry was made when my Dad's voice from Base
Command informed us it was 6:00 and we were done. Everyone broke camp
quickly, eager to return to my grandmother's gazebo where the base had
been set up.
.
. . Enthusiasm buzzed in the atmosphere upon the arrival there,
where all of us cousins reunited after the adrenaline-pumping night. Daylight
had broke and stories were being exchanged right and left from cousin
to cousin.
.
. . "We set up a trip wire all the way around..."
.
. . "The only reason we got compromised was Josh's CO2 ran
out..."
.
. . "...and then he whistled me, and I was like 'Crap!' I had
no idea he was back there!"
.
. . "Then Drew fell asleep so..."
.
. . "I just ran, dude!" I heard Seth telling his triumphant
tale over and over.
.
. . The stories from one camp to the next were endless and
everyone wanted to tell their version. But I was more amused by my uncles'
stories of crawling on their bellies through brush and briars all night
attempting to take us out. Here they were in their forties and fifties,
still out playing army games.
.
. . The entire night was a rush I'd never experienced before. My
dad and I had planned this camp out for years in advance but not even
he had anticipated the end results to be so successful. As tired and dirty
as we all were, the one thing everyone was saying was "We've got
to do this again next year!"
.
. . My family may sound a little unusual... but that's because
we are. And that's what I love about it. It didn't matter who you were
or what you did that night, none of us can or will forget it. And who
else can say they've ever done such a thing?
.
. . Just ask Holly, for instance. She would say if it had been
a boring night.
.
. . "Oh my gosh," she said to my camera that morning
before leaving for home. "I loved it! I'm a girly-girl... I thought
I would hate it, but it was awesome! We've got to do it again!"
. . .
T
O P
