Say Hello to the Broken-Hearted (11 page)

“He left for a good reason.” His mother claimed.

“That’s not my pr
erogative and now that I think about it, I’m glad he did.” John audaciously asserted.

“Listen to me child…”

“No! You listen!” John forcefully interjected, “I am not a child. Stop treating me like one. I am sick and tired of it! Secondly, there is nothing, absolutely nothing you can do to separate me and Karla.” John boldly declared and stared into each one of them eyes to make sure that they had heard him loud and clear.

“You are dismissed!” She cursed.

He nodded and walked to the entrance of the passage to this room and on existing he announced,

“
I’ll have you know, Karla Steelburg, my cousin by blood, is carrying my child.”

His mother felt for the chair behind her and eased the pressure off her shaking feeble legs. They were struck dumb. Words are not enough to bring to life the shocking disbelief that shaded their faces and evoked a provocative tension in the living quarters.

Chapter 15

The
dark night waited patiently alongside the camouflaged three striped snipers for the break of dawn. The synchronized watch the Major wore on his left wrist signaled 17:99 hours.

“Stinger do you have a shot?”

“Target on lock Major, waiting for command.”

“Good, do not blink until I give the word and the target is eliminated.”

“Copy Major.”

General Gibson sat behind his desk with closed eyes. His screwed and wrinkled face displayed an angry preoccupancy. More t
han likely it was war that manifested his thoughts. A bloody massacre in concept. Efforts for an up close shot of the General would have been futile. They all would have been captured and killed, execution style.

17:99:55

“Five, four, three, two, one---fire!”

“Shit! You missed!” Major blurted.

“That’s impossible!”

“Well you just made the impossible possible.”

“It must have been the wind! Stinger accused.

“Shit! They have been alerted. They know we are here.” The tremor in his voice was vivid through the radio in his ear, “God Squad fall back! The enemy knows we are here.”

It was one mile from the compass of the rifle to the wooden four compartment cabin. The wind was uneasy and it took careful precision garnered from y
ears of training and experiences from previous war to obtain a fairly steady aim to the head. Today the general had only luck on his side.

“General Gibson, there!”
The soldier pointed to the random scattering of birds in the forest.

“Go now, search the perimeter, eliminate them,
and bring back the heads.” The General commanded and the soldiers emptied the arsenal and assembled their armor. “No man tries to take my life and escapes. They are in for a rude awakening!”

The soldiers in dark green suits and black hats and boots, launched into the forest, carrying AK47 rifles, point three eight barrel guns and laser sharp double edge sword-knives. The sun was rising and the war was near.

Their hearts drummed
wild, not in fear of death or injury but in fear of losing the essence of the war. As every soldier knew, in every art of war, there is love. That is what they fought for. To die to make love live. 

“Dispatcher we need an immediate extraction. The mission has been compromised. Need extraction now!”

“Copy Major-- Sending Black Eagle for extraction. Can you hold for fifteen minutes?”

“Do we have a choice?”

“Over and out.”

“Soldiers, black eagle will be here in fifteen. We have to hold out till then. Kill anything that moves!”

“They are gain
ing on us Major!”

“Your rifle on cock?”

“Yes sir.”

“Well pad it against your chest and brace yourself.”

“Over there, move move!” The enemy detail uttered.

“Fuck, we are
outnumbered.”

“Yeah,
it’s about thirty of them and God only knows how many rounds of extension clips.”

“Tango on three.
Fire at will. Aim for the hearts.”

“Roger that!”

“One---two--”

The first barrage of shots echoed through the forest. Hawks and canaries scattered in flight as blood splattered from the soldiers’ chests.

The alarming explosions drummed John
Steelburg’s ears, sending a shocking stimulant through his nervous system. He quickly jumped to his feet out of his deep sleep and on hearing another round of heavy gunshot he rushed outside. Only to find himself in the middle of a war, wearing nothing more than white Calvin Klein boxer and socks.

John quickly ran and stooped behind an oak tree. Frighten for his dear life, and
pissing in his socks as hollow points shattered the bark of the tree. “What is this!” He screamed, “Why are they trying to take my life!”

In sudden haste the M
ajor rushed to his aid. In a stealth maneuver he returned fire and managed to kill the two black hearted soldiers scoring for John’s demise.

“Look son, we are here to protect you, this is your war. We will die for your cause. Just promise us you will never give up on it.” The Major pleaded.

“What—What!!” John stuttered in the depth of his confusion.

The major handed him an army vest, brown boots and body armor, “Come on son, this is war! We have no time to waste and there is no turning back!”

John quickly zipped his pants and tied his laces. The Major handed an M16 rifle to his chest, and stared deep into his eyes.

“You are a soldier now! Together we fight! Fight for your love!
To the very end!”

“Yes sir! Yes sir!” John muscled the courage
of a thousand army and shouted to his face with due militancy, then clamped the clip into the rifle, unlatched the safety, cranked the weapon, faced his enemy with bloody eyes and squeezed the trigger. Hot hollow point shells rained like a miserable storm in September.

“Four down…” Roach counted, as he shifted his focus from the firing battalion in the near distance to reloading the cartridge into his rifle. In training, it would take him less than seven seconds. But the bantering of his heart against his chest and with the adrenaline rush that tremor his fingers along with the fear of a blind bullet piercing his head, it took him a little over eleven seconds. With that restless performance, he was lucky to be alive.

“I’m hit!! I’m hit!!” A bullet grazed his side and the blood brought a sudden despair to the frightening reality.

“Shit! How bad is it?” Major asked.

“My side…bleeding badly.” Roach replied.

“Damn it! You think you can make it?”

“I don’t know, I am starting to feel nauseated!”

“Hang in there soldier! We will get you home, I promise.”

“Banger, get Roach and move to the pickup zone, the rest of us maintain pressure until we get confirmation that the bird is here!” The major declared over the sound of bullets hammering from M16 and Russian made assault rifles.

“Copy Major!”

Fourteen more from the enemy line dead. The harder they came the harder they fell. The blood stains color the tree barks dirty red. Silhouettes of death made horrific portraits against the forest floor. Men in black fell like rotten fruits. Watch how they flatter, watch the seeds as they scatter. This is how a solider fights and dies for love.

“Major Black Eagle on site. Ready for extraction--over.”

“Roger that.”

“Boys our bird is here. Stinger cover John. Make sure he gets in safely. Quaker, deploy the bombs we need a diversion to buy us some time. Hurry! We will cover you!”

The Major pulled the pins of two gre
nades and threw them at a forty-five degrees angle. As the bombs dropped and debris scattered at random from the turbulent explosion, he reloaded with an extended cartridge. Six more dead, but the enemy was adamant in their retaliation.

The M
ajor glanced to the left and in the fraction of the second he saw blood slush from the back of Scorpion’s head…

The M
ajor ran to his aid. Held his corpse and felt for pulse. There was none. The bullet had torn to pieces his medulla oblongata, he suffered an instant death. The Major threw the heavy corpse against his right shoulder, braced the rifle on his left chest plate and scattered bullets to the enemy front.

“Quaker finish deploying the bombs, I got Scorpion.”

“Roger that!”

Over twenty-seven
now dead. Hot bullets and blood, hand grenades and guns. You gasp for air and there was none. Your body thrust backwards from the penetrating force. What’s your last thought before your body hit’s the ground and the poison seeps in? “There is no complete serenity other than dying for love.”

“Deployment in order Major.
Waiting for the word.”

“Good, release when we are five hundred meters away, cover me. I’m making a run for it!”

“Copy…”

Thirty one dead. The bomb was on target.

“Good job soldiers,
let’s go home--we live to fight for love another day.” The major gave out as the black eagle hovered back to base.

“What happened?” General Gibson demanded answers, enraged that the battered boy scouts of what he paraded as soldiers didn’t return with a single head to savage their dignity.

“They escaped sir!” The corporal responded.

“You imbeciles! You know how much danger we are in now!”

“What do you require to be done sir?” The soldier asked.

“This location is compromised, we have to leave immediately.”

“Where to General?”

“There is a base on the hill above the Strawberry field, across the amazon and six hundred miles west of here. Gather all the weapons from the arsenal. We are going to need them.”

“Copy General. You heard the man, gather the weapons and move out the platoon!”

10
00 hours. Location: God’s Squad army base.

“Drop your cocks and grab your socks!” Major Parker shouted as he entered the soldiers’ barrack. As protocol, they jumped to their feet and stood still.

     
“We have just gathered new intelligence on our enemy. Gear up and assemble in the briefing room. We launch out at 2600 hours. Do you understand me?”

“Sir yes sir!” They orchestrated.

The silence in the room stiffened as the Major walked in alongside the second in command lieutenant Dickson.

“In the folder on your desk is a copy of the objectives, attached strategies and lo
cation of our target.” Lieutenant Dickson briefed, “Our objectives are still the same, kill General Gibson and retrieve the hostage. This time, however, we will not be using sniper tactics. That failed miserably the last time and even caused one of our soldiers to be killed.

“The
n how will we attack? It’s difficult to get within fifty yards of them. General Gibson is heavily guarded sir.” Stinger interjected.

“As difficult as it may be, we have to get up close and personal. We have been informed that they have relocated to a base on a four hundred feet hill, above a strawberry field. The field harbors a few scattered trees. You will use them for cover
, but be careful the enemy will be on the lookout from the very same vicinity. There is hardly any possibility of camouflage, but if you intercept the guards you will be able to make it to the base where you will find General Gibson, a few house guards and your hostage….Any questions?”

“What type of weapons should we expect?” Quaker asked.

“The same as last time, except this time, look out for landmines throughout the strawberry fields.”

“What is the base made of sir?” John asked.

“Our intelligence informs us that the inside walls are lined with steel and the windows are bullet proof. That’s one reason we have to get up close and personal…any other questions?”