"Do you think they could be setting a trap for us farther up the road?"

Ahmed asked.

"No, sir, I doubt it. I think they've pulled their forces back to make a last stand at the oil fields and in the city."

"Well, then, Lieutenant," Ahmed said, making up his mind. "Let us give them the chance to die for what they believe. Move the convoy out!"

"Yes, sir!" Shaeen said, and tapped his driver on the shoulder, pointing to the head of the convoy.

227.

As his convoy neared the divide in the road, with one branch heading toward the oil fields and the other toward Riyadh, Jamal Ahmed called a halt to the column of trucks and equipment.He pulled his HumVee up next to the jeep Lieutenant Sohail Shaeen was riding in, and leaned out of the window.

"Lieutenant," Ahmed said. "I want you to take the first ten trucks and several of the Bradley vehicles and lead an a.s.sault on the oil fields. I will take the rest of the convoy toward the city itself, where I suspect the majority of the hostile troops are located."

"Yes, sir," Shaeen replied. "After I secure the oil fields, what are your orders?"

"I want you to mine as many of the oil derricks as you can with the supplies you have. Our leader, Abdullah El Farrar, says this is our primary mission. We must regain control of the oil fields as soon as possible before the enemy can send in reinforcements."

"Yes, sir. Consider it done," Shaeen said.

"Radio me as soon as you've driven out all of the enemy troops. El Farrar is waiting anxiously for word of our success in this matter."

Shaeen nodded, and told his driver to proceed to the 228.

front of the convoy so he could direct the troops in their a.s.sault on the oil derricks, which could be seen in the light of the moon looming like prehistoric skeletons against the night sky.

After the lead trucks and vehicles had turned toward the distant fields, Jamal Ahmed took the point position in the convoy and headed toward the lights of Riyadh in the distance.

Shaeen, who was an experienced field commander, pulled the trucks to a stop some five hundred yards from the first of the oil derricks, and had his men deploy in a wide line behind the Bradley a.s.sault Vehicles, which he planned to have lead the attack.

Once the Bradleys drew the fire of the enemy, he would have his troops make a frontal a.s.sault on their positions. It was the cla.s.sic maneuver for a commander attacking a numerically inferior force, and Shaeen thought it would be a routine a.s.sault.

He keyed the microphone on his radio and told the drivers of the Bradleys to proceed at a slow speed toward the oil derricks so his troops could keep up on foot.

In the cl.u.s.ter of oil derricks, hidden among the outbuildings and shacks, Bartholomew Wiley-Smeyth and his men watched the approach of the enemy forces.

"Let the lead vehicles get well within the minefields before we explode them," he told Rearden, who was lying on top of the building observing the approaching enemy troops through his night-vision goggles. "I want to wait until the foot soldiers are in the trap before we spring it."

"Aye, sir," Rearden answered, keeping his eyes on the 229229.

troops and ignoring the Bradleys as they drew closer to his position.

By the time the last of the troops had entered the jaws of the trap, the Bradleys were less than fifty yards from Bart's position.

"Now!" he yelled, and opened fire on the Bradleys with his Uzi.

As his men followed suit, their bullets sparking as they ricocheted and caromed off the metal armor of the Bradleys, Rearden pushed the b.u.t.ton on the remote detonator.

The multiple packages of C-4 and Semtex exploded in a blinding flash of light, followed by a tremendous booming series of explosions that sounded as one.

Over five hundred terrorist troops were killed outright, their bodies blown into pieces as the shrapnel whistled through the air, while hundreds more were wounded by the flying shards of metal.

The Bradleys, who'd escaped the worst of the explosions, slowed as their drivers looked to see what had happened behind them.

Staff Sergeant Alphonse Green stood up from behind his cover and lobbed a grenade at the closest Bradley. It landed just under the right front tire and exploded, blowing the front tire completely off and tipping the vehicle on its side.

As its occupants scrambled to get out of the burning vehicle, they were cut down by murderous fire from Bart and his men.

The other two Bradleys opened fire on their position, driving them back behind cover and wounding David Davidson in the left shoulder.

More grenades were thrown, and they exploded harmlessly off the armor of the Bradleys, but did make the 230.

drivers reverse their courses and race away from the derricks back toward the hundreds of bodies of the troops behind them.

Sohail Shaeen's driver was decapitated by the blast from the mines and thrown bodily out of the jeep, which spun to the side and almost overturned before slowing to a stop.

Shaeen, his left leg punctured in three places by shrapnel, managed to scoot over into the driver's seat and get the jeep turned around, headed away from the oil field.

Once out of the smoke and airborne debris, he could see the extent of the damage done to his troops, and got on the radio and instructed his squad leaders to pull back and regroup behind the Bradleys, which were racing back toward his position.

During the confusion, Bart pulled his men back also and led them toward the city, a couple of kilometers away."Radio Walter O'Reilly and tell him we're coming in," Bart said to his radioman. "We'll pull back into the city and take up positions there.

We've done all we can here."

It took Lieutenant Shaeen almost an hour to regroup his forces and get them headed back toward the oil fields. He left the dead and wounded where they lay, intending to come back for them once he'd taken control of the oil fields.

He moved the men slowly, expecting another trap, and was pleasantly surprised to find the oil fields unguarded on his second a.s.sault.

Once he'd made sure there were no enemy forces remaining in the field, he set his explosives experts to min- 231.

ing the oil derricks, while he set up defensive positions around the perimeter of the field.

Only after that was done did he send men out into the desert to try to rescue any wounded that were still alive.

Jamal Ahmed, hearing the explosions and seeing the huge fireball that lit up the night sky, slowed the convoy he was leading toward the city, fearing they'd underestimated the number of opposing forces they faced.

As the convoy neared the city, he came to the airport, which was off to the left of the city. He stopped, trying to decide what to do next. Then Shaeen radioed him that he had control of the oil fields and was in the process of mining the oil derricks.

"What happened?" Ahmed asked.

"The enemy had mined the desert in front of the oil field, sir. I lost over a thousand men, dead and wounded, but did finally manage to secure the fields."

Ahmed nodded. That was indeed good news. El Farrar would be pleased.

"Any sign of opposing forces?" he asked.

"No, sir. It appears they've all retreated toward the city."

"Good. Then they're trapped there," Ahmed said. "I shall take control of the airport to prevent the enemy from using it for reinforcements, and then I shall take the city."

232 t.i.t-TWO.

By early in the evening, the skies over the Middle East began to clear and the winds dropped down to almost normal levels. For the first time in almost a week, the moon and stars could be seen.

In Kuwait City, after being a.s.sured by his meteorological team that the storm was over, at least for the next twenty-four hours, Ben Raines scrambled the pilots that had been on standby for the past few days and told them to get their engines warmed up. His second call was to Jackie Malone, telling her to get her troops ready to roll.

Jackie put the phone down, called her second in command, Johnny Walker,and told him the good news. She had already divided her battalion up into two equal groups, with Walker scheduled to lead the second group while she retained command of the first group.

The men and women of her battalion were on active standby, which meant they'd be able to take off within one hour from the battle-stations call.

As soon as he had everyone moving toward the planes, Ben took the time to call his commanders in both Saudi Arabia and Iran to tell them help was on the way.

His first call was to Tehran to check in with Buddy's group. He was a little surprised when Harley Reno answered the call instead of Buddy.

233.

233.

"Harley, this is Ben. How come Buddy isn't available?" Ben asked, sweat beginning to break out on his forehead at the thought of what might be wrong.

"Hey, Ben," Harley answered, his voice more serious than usual. "Buddy's okay, but he's taken a hit in the gut."

"How serious?" Ben asked.

"The medic thinks he'll be fine. The bullet pa.s.sed completely through and there doesn't seem to be any serious internal damage, but he's not in any shape to fight."

"You in charge?" Ben asked.

"For right now," Harley answered.

"Can I talk to Buddy?" Ben asked.

"Uh, I don't think so, sir," Harley replied. "The medic's just given him a shot of morphine and he's kinda out of it right now."

Just then, a soldier walked into Ben's office.

"Wait one, Harley," Ben said, and turned to the young man. "Yeah?"

"The ship with the helicopters on it just arrived, General," the man said. "They're unloading and fueling them now."

"Great!" Ben said. He keyed the mike again. "Harley, the choppers from our home base are here. Do you have control of the airport?"

"For the time being, sir, but it'll be dicey holding it. We've got a bunch of hostiles on our doorstep."

"Well, the weather's cleared and I'll be sending Jackie and half her battalion to see you. I'll have the choppers make a pa.s.s over the airport first. Pop a green canister if it's safe. If you can't hold it, then I'll have the choppers strafe it until it's safe for Jackie and her troops to land."

"Roger that, General.""Oh, and Harley . . ."

"Sir?"

234.

"Tell Buddy I'll be coming along with the troops."

"That's good news, sir," Harley replied, relief in his voice at the news.

Ben signed off, and immediately called Bartholomew Wiley-Smeyth's headquarters in Riyadh.

When Bart was on the line, Ben asked, "How're you holding up, Bart?"

"By the skin of our teeth, Ben," Bart replied. "The hostiles are thick as thieves here. So far we've managed to keep them out of the city, but I'm afraid we lost the oil fields."

"Hang in there, buddy," Ben said. "Help is on the way."

"We'll do our best," Bart replied. "We've retreated from the oil fields and are holed up in the city."

"How about the airport?" Ben asked.

"We had to abandon it, Ben. I'm pretty sure it'll be in the terrorists'

hands by the time you can get reinforcements here."

Ben thought for a moment. "Okay, that's no problem. We have some helicopters that should be able to clear the way for our troops to land."

"We'll do what we can, Ben, but tell the pilots not to spare the gas."

"Roger that, Bart," Ben said, and broke the connection.

As soon as he was off the radio, Ben went into his quarters, changed from his uniform into battle fatigues, and ran toward the airport to join Jackie and her troops.

Ten C-141 StarLifter aircraft were lined up on the tarmac, waiting to take off. The StarLifters, longer and wider than the older C-130's, could handle more cargo and troops than the C-130 Hercules could.

Whereas the C- 235.

235.

130s could transport, only ninety-two paratroopers or 128 battle-ready troops, the C-14s could transport 168 or 208 respectively, and at a slightly faster speed.

The first two StarLifters were loaded with paratroopers, while the other eight were loaded with regular troops.

Ben ran up to Jackie, who was preparing to board one of the planes with her paratroopers.She turned and raised an eyebrow when she saw Ben in battle fatigues.

"You comin' to this party, boss?" she asked.

Ben nodded as he slipped into a parachute and strapped on his weapons.

"Buddy's been wounded, Jackie, and I'm gonna take over his command in Tehran."