3 Chapter 2: Haywire

City of Dalisi near the Mosque

September 20, 2021 C.Y.

1235 Hours

The heat of the day is unforgiving so as the enemy fire towards the position of task force Derby. The men are taking cover at a abandoned four story building in the city, refusing to give up the fight. They returned disciplined and accurate fire that took out several terrorists that attempted to overwhelm them.

"This is task force Derby, we are taking heavy fire from all directions. We ask for immediate assistance. Hostiles are everywhere and the enemies have known our location, we are compromised. Anyone who is nearby!" A distress call was made.

The greyhounds are pinned down by enemy fire and are overwhelmed by enemy forces. Due to some miscalculations in planning and error in intelligence, they have walked themselves into a trap.

"How many are the casualties?" Lieutenant Alfonso asked a sergeant beside him.

"We lost nearly one third of our strength sir. That's around ten men sir!" The sergeant replied.

Lt. Alfonso cursed and continues to bark orders to his men. Meanwhile several hundred meters away task force Taffy was on standby observing the men of the First Strike Force Squad of the Greyhounds.

"Amateurs!" Jackal one of Captain Lucas' men said.

"Indeed, shall we just watch them until they will get wiped out?" Jill, a muscular tall blonde woman one of the officers of task Force Taffy asked their Captain.

"Let us observe them for a while. If they all die at this moment then Jackal's comment on them is true. Let us not compromise ourselves for the time being." Captain Lucas said.

<Two hours earlier>

"Lieutenant we found them, it's the hostages!" A soldier speaking in heavy Easting accent said.

"Roger Python 5, we got your position. We will relieve you of your position. Stand by!" Lieutenant Alfonso said.

"I think it is too early Lieutenant, the mission is going too smoothly as if they are letting us in." A sergeant said in suspicion of the turn of events.

"I know let us be cautious in our actions. The enemy must have been hiding something, they are too welcoming." The Lieutenant replied worried about the situation.

The mission is going as planned. The men of task force Python have gotten too complacent and proceeded carelessly on their tasks. This worried the Lieutenant who was observing their progress. He reprimanded them to be careful for he thinks that it could be a trap set for them.

"The progress is getting good, keep it up!" Captain Lucas from task force Taffy said.

"Thanks Captain but we cannot be too sure about this. The enemy seems to be too hospitable to our entry. They might be preparing a big surprise party for us." Alfonso said.

"Save the chatter for later Lieutenant. We have some reconnaissance mission to do. After your first objective rendezvous with task Force Wolf in the City Center. They are conducting a search and rescue mission for the V.I.P.s. Be careful out there!" The Captain said to Alfonso.

"Roger that, out!"Lieutenant Alfonso replied and ended his transmission.

Meanwhile at the outskirts of the city at the opposite end of their position. Enemy reinforcements began pouring in. They have anticipated the arrival of the Greyhounds and are setting up defensive positions along the coastline up until the Mosque. They also occupied tall buildings and set up snipers, machine gun nests and several defensive positions to halt their enemy's advance.

"This is Eye-Sky, we see a lot of rag-heads entering the city. Proceed with caution, they have taken defensive positions along key strategic sites." An operator said from the headquarters.

"This is task Force Derby of the Greyhounds. We copy you can you please send us the coordinates of the opposing force?" Alfonso asked in reply.

"Roger, sending the coordinates now!" The drone operator said.

The Lieutenant along with the members of task Force Derby were armed and equipped with the most sophisticated power armor and ballistic plates that the army can afford. Along with it is an integrated interface that is fed with information from the H.Q.'s systems. Information like coordinates and some important mission details are transmitted through the Data Display in the H.U.D.s of their helmets.

"Sir, they are expecting our arrival. Shall we pull out task force Wolf? They are exposed and will be in a difficult situation once the enemy spots them." A member of task force Derby asked.

"Pull them out, now! We cannot afford loosing men and vital equipment to the enemy. Tell them to take cover and retreat to this point!" Lieutenant Alfonso transmitted his coordinates to his counterparts in task Force Wolf.

Meanwhile the men of task force Wolf oblivious to the recent situation continued to their objective. Their hasty approach was stopped by Lieutenant Alfonso's transmission. It was received by one of the sergeants, "Sir we are asked to withdraw from our location. Enemies are coming from all sides. We are tasked to retreat to these coordinates."

"We are close to our objective! Are we just going to let these people die under the hands of these maniacs?" Second Lieutenant Grady scratches his head and replied impatiently.

Lieutenant Alfonso sent a transmission to the squad leader of task force wolf and said. "Pull out your men from your location, the enemy is closing in and you are outnumbered! We will devise a contingency plan to rescue the hostages."

The squad leader of task force Wolf disagreed and replied. "Screw you sir, they are about to murder the hostages. We have come this far and now you are going to pull us back? We will save the hostages with or without you sir!"

Lieutenant Alfonso hearing this angrily replied. "You are disobeying a direct order. We are not abandoning the V.I.P.s. By rushing in you are endangering not only yourselves but the lives of the hostages. Rendezvous to these coordinates..."

Before Lieutenant Alfonso could finish speaking the squad leader task force Wolf ended the transmission which made him furious. With his men in danger of being surrounded. He decided to devise another contingency plan as a support for task force Wolf which is in danger of being overwhelmed. Unbeknownst to the men of task force Wolf some of the terrorists were disguised as hostages luring them to a trap.

As task force Wolf closed in to the building where the supposedly V.I.P.s were located. Their squad leader assigned a sniper into a building five hundred meters away. Second Lieutenant Grady the leader of task force Wolf ordered him to open fire at the enemy. One by one the terrorists fell down as accurate fire was delivered by the sniper on the rooftop.

After wiping out the enemy, the squad began to move into their objective. The V.I.P.s were unharmed and the men of task force Wolf began assisting them. There were women and children among the hostages which were hastily evacuated. Little did they know that there were bombs underneath their location. One of the terrorists posing as a hostage took a little switch in his hand and activated it.

"By God's grace, infidels deserves death!"

A huge explosion rocked the area. Five of the members of task force Wolf was caught in the explosion and immediately got killed. After that small arms fire from all directions pinned down the remaining members of the squad. Their squad leader was among the five who were killed in the blast. The other hostages ran away as the firefight began. Some of the hostages who were in disguise opened fire with their concealed weapons wounded some of the soldiers in the process.

"The enemies are everywhere! What shall we do sergeant!?"

The sergeant ordered suppressing fire to the enemy then orders a private to grab the wounded to safety which he successfully did. After that they retreated to an abandoned building ten meters away from their location for cover.

"What just happened?" Lieutenant Alfonso asked one of his men after hearing the huge explosion

"Sir, we lost contact to Lieutenant Grady sir to that explosion. The enemy has got task force Python and Wolf pinned down. They request immediate assistance."

A sergeant replied upon hearing the radio chatter of their comrades who are asking for help.

"Screw this!"

The Lieutenant cursed.

The mission went haywire from that moment. The men of the 51st Special Forces Unit Greyhounds were pinned down in the city of Dalisi. Help is on its way but will take at least thirty minutes from the nearest Army Camp. Lieutenant Alfonso and his men will have to hold out until they are relieved.