Excerpt: M.E.R.C: Mechanized Espionage Reconnaissance Combatant

The Following excerpt is in rough draft form and has not yet been edited for spelling or grammatical errors.

M.E.R.C: Mechanized Espionage Reconnaissance Combatant
A novel written by Eldon KR

Chapter One

“Alpha, report in.” I said into the headset's microphone that hung from his ear.

“Alpha-Two here. All charges in place.” my earpiece buzzed.

Alpha-Two was Matt Dozier. The closest thing that I had to a friend since I was recruited into Black-Ops. Dozier's talents lied in stealth, close quarters combat and explosives. He was my hands behind the lines just as much as I was his eyes from above behind my sniper rifle.

“Alpha-Three, we're wired in, but we may have a problem.” Said Jeff Riley.

Riley was the most computer savvy out of the group, which was saying a lot for a group of jar-heads turned ghosts. His job was to sneak into the comms office and tap into the radio chatter of their targets. Go in, play computer wizard, bug out. What could have gone wrong.

“Sit-rep, Riley.” I whispered into my earpiece

“Well, one of the comms officers didn't go on break like on schedule like he had been all week. I had to shoot him before he triggered an alarm. I've planted the bugs so I can get out, but one of the guards is already on his rounds, he'll come to check this room in about ninety seco- SHI-”

The feed from Riley's comm switched off for a second and switched back on with the concussive sounds of fists impacting on a body at lightning quick speed followed by the sound of snapping bone.

“Alpha-Three here. No need to worry about that guard, but I hope that our targets show up in the next half hour or we're going to have a problem.”

“A problem?” I asked

“Yeah, relief for the comm officer shows up in a half hour.”

“God damnit. Bug out now, Three. Try not to kill anyone on the way back.”

“Aye-aye, Boss man”

“Alpha-Four, please tell me you have some good news.” I asked, my voice laced with stress and annoyance.

“Why does Riley get to have all the fun?” Sean Wilcox asked

Sean Wilcox, in the opinion of the men that his team reported to, was a prime candidate for Black-Ops. Why let a man who killed unscrupulously get labeled as a serial killer and get caught by the authorities, when you could turn him into a non-person and have him destroy whatever you pointed him at?

“Stop being cute, Four. Status update!” I said through clenched teeth

“I've cracked the safe, I've got the launch codes, as well as some very compromising photographs of the HVT's mistress. Who keeps hard copies of this shit? I thought everybody hid porn on their computers these days?”

“Different strokes for different folks, Wilcox. I like the cam-girls myself.” Riley piped in

“You see, I never saw the point of pornography in the first place. Why would you waste hard drive space on that shit when you can just go out and meet a real women.” Dozier chimed in

“Not all of us can afford hookers during leisure time, like you, Dozier.” Wilcox retorted

“The day I pay for sex is the day I admit to being a failure in the arts of charm and subterfuge.”

“Trust me, we've already got a pool going on when that day happens.” Riley returned

“You sons of b-” Dozier began to say

“Cut the chatter, the comms are for mission critical information only.” I cut them all off, “Now as long as everybody has done their part find a place to lay low until it's time to evac.”

“Sorry, Vec.” Riley said, “A man can go crazy if you don't have enough humor in your life. All work and no play, and all.”

“Bravo leader, are your men in place?” I asked

For high priority missions like this one Overwatch usually dispatched two teams to get the job done. Alpha team to do all of the wetwork, and Bravo team to standby in case anything went wrong, and to provide cover fire while Alpha team made their way to the rendezvous for Dust-off.

“Three birds in the bush and myself on high, sir. Command just informed me that we have coverage from a defense satellite for the next twenty minutes. I've been authorized to use a kinetic strike should things go horribly wrong.” Bravo-One ansewred.

“Well I'm glad to have you covering my back, but I doubt we'll need the Rods From God. Keep your finger off that big red button.”

“Aye, sir.”

“Alpha-Two to Alpha-One, I'm picking up some chatter. Our Two HVT's are coming in from the east in a humvee. They're being escorted by a squad of soldiers. Copy?”

“I'm reading you loud and clear, Two. Did you hear that, Bravo-Leader?”

“Copy, Alpha-One. I'll tell my birds to stay frosty and keep their heads on a swivel.”
Chapter Two

I sat in my snipers nest a mile away from the base of operations of a highly organized terrorist cell that had gotten their hands on some nuclear missiles. My squad was sent in to steal the launch codes, and assasinate their leader and his general. Without leadership they would disband, in theory. And even if they were fully autonomous and independent of leadership the only way they could harm anybody with those nukes without launch codes was if they all lined up and threw them at a country.

The intel on this cell was sketchy at best in the beginning. Their leader had recruited it's members from all parts of the globe and they were operating independently in at least six countries. But so far all intel showed that the head of the cell was this man, at this base in the Andes mountains. They evaded detection for so long due to the fact that the cell had it's fingers in the Chilean government. Who knew how many world leaders were corrupted by this man, but I was going to put a stop to it today.

“I've got eyes on the targets, Marcus.” The voice of Bravo-Leader buzzed in my ear, “Coming from the east, They'll be in the camp and under your cross-hairs in under a minute.”

I checked the small length of thread that dangled from the barrel of my rifle and took note of the wind direction. I surveyed the camp through my scope. Doing some quick math in my head I picked where I'd take out the targets and adjusted my scope accordingly.

“You should have a visual in ten seconds Alpha.” Bravo-One said

The trick to being a good sniper isn't just having the ability to lay still in one position for hours, if not days, at a time. To get the perfect shots you've got to be able to tune out all the chatter, and background noise of the world until it's nothing but static and white-noise. The humvee entered my line of site, I began following it with the scope. The general stood up in his seat and began shouting out orders to the men. I heard someone saying something over the comm, but I was in the zone and couldn't ear anything but the blood rushing through my ears as I focued on my breathing, slowing my heart rate.

The general would be the first one to go. I zeroed my cross-hairs on his head, and focused on my breathing. I listened to my slowed heart rate. Putting pressure on the trigger I closed one eye and held my breath. Timing my shots just right I squeezed the trigger twice, both shots fired in between heartbeats. The generals brains exploded out the back of his head and sprayed the face of the cell's leader, He hit the brakes of the humvee and his head also exploded just before he jumped out of the vehicle. The sounds of my beating heart were replaced with all the sounds of the world and I felt like I was seeing in Technicolor.

“He fell funny.” I heard Bravo-Leader laugh over the comms.

“Two, blow the charges now.” I yelled into my earpiece.

Just a few seconds after our targets were killed blocks of C4 were detonated in key buildings around the compound as well as in the refueling station. Causing just enough choas for my men to escape unnoticed.

“Alright Alpha, head to Dust-off. Bravo-Leader, you and your boys no what to do. Cover our exit but don't fall too far behind. The second chopper is only going to wait an extra minute to get you boys out.” I ordered

I policed my brass, stowed my rifle and worked my way north to the rendezvous point. I'd have to run a mile down the steep mountain incline and across all the destruction of the base to get to the landing zone or I'd be left behind myself. I crouched behind cover and rolled and ran across areas where I was out in the open on my way to the landing zone. As I ran I could hear the death chatter of the enemy Kalashnikov's, felt bullets whizzing by, missing me by milimeters. I could also here the sounds of Bravo team, armed with MP5's, and every few seconds I could hear the report of Bravo-Leaders sniper rifle.

I could see the choppers landing a one-hundred and fifty yards away from the base, and I could see Riley, and Wilcox had already boarded the chopper and Dozier was just a bit ahead of me. As we all climbed aboard the helicopter I could see Bravo team working their way out of the perimeter of the base. Bravo-Leader was ahead of the rest of them, running backwards and firing shots from his rifle every few seconds. Two of the squad were a hundred feet behind him running towards the choppers. They would run a few yards, turn, kneel, and provide cover fire for the two men in the rear as they ran past them. They would then, repeat the process of turning, kneeling, and returning fire, alternating every ten yards or so, that way the retreat would always be covered. Watching the squad work was like watching the gears of a time-piece crafted by an artisan clock maker work in perfect time.

As soon as Bravo squad climbed aboard their own helicopter the pilots radioed in and began to take off. Soldiers manning 50-cal machine guns fired upon the remnats of the cell that pursued us. The chopper that carried Bravo squad took off a few seconds before mine did and they were a bit higher in the air when a klaxon began sounding in the cockpit of the chopper my squad was riding in.

“Someone on the ground just launched a couple of rocket-propelled grenades, I don't think I can dodge them” the pilot screamed as we began to take evasive maneuvers.

I watched as the pilot brought the chopper to a higher altitude and began to rotate in the air. The gunner brought his .50-cal to bear on the small crowd of terrorist that began firing at us with their assault rifles. The RPG passed right under the body of the chopper. I heard a loud explosion above and to my left and felt the shockwave I looked just in time to see the second chopper spinning out of control and hurtle towards us. I heard their pilot over the radio.

“MAYDAY! MAYDAY! WE'VE BEEN HIT! WE'RE GOING DOWN!”

At the same time I heard our pilot screaming, “SHIT! SHIT! I can't get out of the way”

The second chopper crashed into ours as we all fell to the ground in a heap of flaming crumpled metal. I failed my squad. I was going to die in the mountains of Chile.