When There's No More room In Hell: A Zombie Novel (23 page)

Then, his mind started to drift to something else, and he fell asleep thinking about Helen, the lovely Nurse Helen.

19

“Okay lads, this is the plan
.” Marcus stood in front of his assembled team with a notepad in his hand containing timings and specific orders for individuals.

Ian and Stu had built a scaled sand model of the area. It showed their current location, the village
on the Iraq side and the river. Also it showed the opposite hamlet and the far side with the high ground and enemy positions, including the tank, machinegun position and suspected command post and surrounding buildings. Jim had insisted on donating a cigarette packet to denote the tank.

The model
was layered and showed the relief and lay of the land in 3D. If there was a hill on the opposite bank of the river, then there would also be a scaled down version of it on the model. It needed to be as accurate to the ground as possible so that everyone could get a clear view in their mind’s eye of what lay in the target area and immediately around them.

It was also o
rientated to the ground with a North pointer and an indication of the scale and distances between features. Marcus pointed to various positions for people to sit in relation to the ground and their tasks, so that they could get an idea of what the landscape would look like ahead of them during the actual mission.

It
reminded Jim of a battlefield that he had built as a child in his garden for his toy soldiers that he had then stood over, pretending to be a general high up in a helicopter observing his men as they advanced.

The team worked from a system that they had learned in the army. While Marcus planned the operation to the last detail, the rest of the team conducted
what was known as ‘concurrent activity’.

Stu and Ian built the model and the rest of the men checked, cleaned and oiled the weapons. Ammunition
and magazines were checked and redistributed. Then they went through and reorganised their personal kit, making sure it was sufficient for the task.

Any unnecessary weight would be left behind in a cache area, so that the team could move fast and carry more ammunition during the assault. Everyone stripped their kit to ‘fighting order’
, ditching everything except ammunition. Anything that wasn’t to be used in the assault was left in the vehicles.

With everyone seated around the model, Marcus began.

He had a radio antenna in his hand that he used as a pointer for the model to indicate positions as he explained the mission. The rest of the men settled in to listen to the plan as they sipped their coffee and smoked cigarettes.

Marcus began by explaining
the model in detail, pointing out the various features that related to the map and the description of the model. The tank, machinegun position, buildings and even the river had all been added to the model using a range of different materials such as ammunition boxes and the blue towel that Ian had ripped up and shaped and added to act as the river. 

Next he gave them th
eir individual missions and tasks. He looked to Stu first of all who sat directly across from him on the Southern side of the model. Stu, being the team’s second in command, would be in charge of the ‘Fire Support Group’.

“Stu, you and Jim will be the FSG with the vehic
les, along with the three Iraqis.” He nodded to Hussein, Ahmed and Zaid. “They will drive the vehicles and Jim and your self will be the gunners.”

He then turned to the remainin
g three members who sat on the Western side of the model facing East.

“Ian, Yan, Sini and I will be the assault group.” The three men
nodded in acknowledgement. “Yan, I want you as the gunner for the assault. Dismount one of the machineguns from the turrets and grab as much linked ammo as you can carry without being hindered. The rest of us,” he pointed to himself, Sini and Ian, “will be carrying spare boxes of ammo for the gun too. You'll suppress the enemy positions while I, Ian and Sini assault them.”

With everyone now aware of their specific tasks, he moved on. “The situation is, we have a defensive position on the fa
r bank with one heavy machinegun,” he pointed to its location on the small hill on the model with his radio antenna, “a tank and a line of shell scrapes directly in front of the river. We believe that there are more men billeted in the village that begins fifty metres to the rear of the forward line. We haven’t identified any rear protection positions and it seems they’ve concentrated all their attention directly to their front. Altogether, we estimate between twenty and thirty infantry.”

He swept his antenna again over the area of small cardboard ammunition boxes that had been used to simulate the buildings.

“This here,” h
e pointed out a box that had been painted red and had a twig in the shape of an antenna sticking out from the top, “is what looks like their command centre. If they have any idea what they are doing, they more than likely have a mobile reserve to the rear in the city of Silopi, located about ten kilometres North, between this position here, and the border crossing at Zakho. From what we saw last night from the ridge line, it looks like they have air support too.”

With the situation on the enemy complete, he went on
. “The situation of friendly forces, lads, you know as well as I do, there fucking is none. So there's nothing to tell on that matter.”

A low titter resounded amongst the group.

Marcus continued, “Okay, the mission. Our mission is; to destroy all enemy forces in the defensive position within the objective area and withdraw to the North into Turkey.” He looked over the group. “It’s as simple as that.” He then repeated the mission statement. “To destroy all enemy in the defensive position within the objective area and withdraw to the North into Turkey.”

“That's pretty fucking straight forward. I like it
,” Sini commented with nods and grunts of approval from the others.

“Okay then, this is where it gets complicated. Exec
ution and concept of operations,” Marcus said as he then went into the details of how they were to do it.

Stu and Jim would provide covering fire
from the turret mounted machineguns from two of the vehicles, with the third vehicle remaining just to their rear to act as a backup. They would push forward through the village with their lights off and engines cut to avoid detection, allowing the gentle slope of the track as it dipped toward the river to carry them into position. Stu and Jim would park their vehicles on the South side of the raised irrigation ditch that would provide them with a degree of hard cover from the tank and heavy machinegun on the hill.

They w
ere to hold fire until the signal came from Marcus to engage their primary targets. Stu would be on the left hand side of the track with the best view of the suspected command centre hut.

“Obviously
, Stu,” Marcus looked up from the model, “we don’t have night vision, but hopefully, there’ll be enough light at that time of the morning for you to identify the building.”

On the signal,
Stu would then begin to fire into the command centre in the hope of killing the people inside and disabling the radios. With the building being made of mud brick, the rounds would pass through the walls as if they were not even there and before long, the hut would probably collapse in on itself as the bricks disintegrated, and in the process, cut communications with any reinforcements that they have to the rear.

At the same time, Jim
would engage the heavy machinegun position further up on the hill with his turret gun. He would continue to fire burst after burst into it until he was sure that it was neutralised.

“J
im, unless you nail the machinegun crew, then we in the assault team are wide open from our left flank. Most of our attention will be focussed on dealing with the tank and the dismounted infantry in the trenches and buildings, so be sure you destroy them before you switch fire to any secondary targets.” Marcus raised his eyebrows and Jim nodded that he understood.

Once the two primary targets;
the command centre and Dushka, were out of action, the fire support group would then switch fire to suppress any troops coming from the buildings in the village. The assault group would be advancing across their front from left to right and it would be up to Stu and Jim to keep their line of advance free from enemy reinforcements.

Marcus looked at Stu and Jim
. “Remember though, we don’t have an unlimited supply of ammo, so get plenty of fire down, but don’t waste it if you don’t need to.”

They both returned with nods and thumbs up gestures.

He turned to Ian, Yan and Sini. “We will push to the West, about a kilometre, and cross the river at the point that Ian and I had a look at earlier. We will then move along the river bank and form up on the start line to the West of the position. Sini and Ian, you will be on the right. I will be in the middle and Yan will be on the left with the machinegun.

“Once we get to the start line, Yan will take up position where he can support the assault with a clear view of the trenches and the village.
We will leave the spare machinegun ammo with him and he will act as our immediate fire support as we,” he pointed to himself, Ian and Sini in turn, “assault the position.”

Yan spoke, “I’ll probably be just a hundred
metres away from the enemy machinegun position so, please, Jim, kill them with the first burst will you?” He gave Jim a broad smile.

“Will do buddy.”

“Have you two finished flirting? If so, can I continue?” Marcus eyed the two in mock annoyance. “The attack will be initiated by me firing an RPG into the tank. You two will carry one each as well.” He nodded and pointed to Sini and Ian. “The moment you see the flash from the rocket leaving the tube, Stu, Jim and Yan, plaster your targets. It all needs to go off at the same time, and we can’t give them a moment to recover.

“Yan, you will fire on the trenches ahead of the assaulting team
, switching fire to the next one along as we go. Be careful of your arcs and keep one eye on us at all times. The last thing we need is a blue on blue and being killed by our own fire support.

“Once we have rolled up the trench positions, Yan, switch fire to the nearest buildings ahead of us. Stu, at that point, you and the rest of the FSG will ford the river and push up behind us
looking for further targets in depth.

“
That's when Ian, Sini and I will begin the final assault through the huts. Hopefully by then, Stu’s group will have pretty much destroyed the place and it should be just a case of sweeping it clear.”

Everyone was clear on how it was
to be done. “We haven’t had the chance to see what their night routine is like, but if their daytime routine is anything to go by, then their security is probably pretty lax. We don’t know if they will conduct a ‘stand to’ or not at first light, but it doesn’t matter, ‘cause we’ll be hitting them just before first light anyway.

“
Once the position is clear, we will do a quick check to ensure all enemy are dead and deal with any of our own casualties, then sort our ammunition out and take anything that may be of use. Within a few minutes of the final assault, I want to be heading North like a herd of startled gazelles.”

He then went on to detail the ‘actions
on’. It was a list of ‘what if?’ scenarios and how they would deal with them. What if they were spotted before the attack was due to start? What if there was a breakdown in communications, if they got lost on the way or walked into an ambush? All these questions needed to be pre-empted and they had to have a clear idea of how they would react to each problem as a team.

“Timings; we will move from here at 03:30 to be in our positions by no later than 04:45. Once there, go firm and wait out. H-hour will be at 05:30, just before first light.”

They then synchronised watches to ensure that they all had the exact, to the second, same time as each other.

“The time will be 18:37 in six, five, four, three, two and one.” A series of different beeps went off as every member of the team pressed the buttons on their watches to set the time to the exact second.

“Shit, missed it.”

The beeps
went off together, except one. For as long as Marcus could remember, from his time in the army, to the present day, someone always hit their button just that little bit too early or too late and would then have to run around to find someone to re-sync with after the briefing was over. It was Ian’s turn to miss it.

“Fuck sake, it would be me wouldn't it.”

Next, he went into the service and support phase of the briefing. “Get a good scoff in you tonight and try and get a kip. The weapons and ammo are squared away. Yan, let me know how much link for the gun you're carrying once you're sorted. All other kits will be left in the SUVs.

“Now then, priso
ners.” He drew in a deep breath. “We take none. You all know what they do to anyone from this side, and on top of that, we can’t carry them and we can’t leave them behind in case they make comms with their mates in the reserve.”

A grumble of agreement
resounded from the throats of all assembled. After what they had witnessed and heard, none of the team felt like taking prisoners anyway.