He could tell from their mismatched clothing that the men were definitely not Syrian regulars.
“Villa, we have four crows that I can see. Wait until I engage before you breach.”
“Roger.”
“Boz, give me a ten count on my mark. Ready, mark.” Barnes began counting in his head, and when he reached five he stood up and moved across the window. One of the men inside caught the movement and got to his feet. He looked to be in his midtwenties, and as he turned his head back to the table, Barnes slipped his finger into the trigger guard and flipped off the safety with his thumb.
The M68 optic had an infrared setting, which allowed him to aim while wearing NODs. However, the light coming from inside the shack washed out the aiming dot and flared his night vision. Due to the offset between the barrel and the optic, Barnes had to center his point of aim above the rebel’s forehead, so the round would impact where he wanted.
When he reached ten, he pulled the last bit of slack out of the trigger and sent a round through the man’s frontal lobe. The colonel was already on his next target before the round blew the man’s brains out the back of his skull. Working from left to right so he wasn’t in danger of hitting Villa, he settled his dot on the next target and fired. The bullet impacted as the door crashed open and Villa engaged the other two men from the doorway.
Barnes watched his soldier step into the room, arcing his rifle toward the window as he moved. Villa’s muzzle began sweeping down at an angle, and the colonel moved around to the front side of the building in case he fired. As soon as he cleared the corner, he heard two more shots from inside. Pushing through the open door, he stepped in behind Villa, who was holding on a man sitting on the floor.
Villa had fired two rounds low into the sitting man’s abdomen, to avoid hitting his boss as he moved. Keeping the rounds at a downward trajectory avoided a possible friendly-fire incident. As soon as Barnes came through the door, he raised his rifle and fired a shot to the dying man’s head.
“Nice shooting, I didn’t see that guy.”
“No problem, boss, I didn’t want to splash you.”
Barnes slapped his soldier on the shoulder and keyed his radio. “Boz, we are secured. We have five crows down.”
“Roger, Anvil 6. My guy is down and we have no movement.”
“Jones, are we good?”
“Roger that. We didn’t even hear the shots, but it sounds like you owe someone a beer.”
“As soon as I receive your allotment I will be sure to pay up.”
“Hey, boss, sounds good to me.”
“Harden, you can bring the van up.”
Barnes moved Villa out to set up a blocking position in the east, and he headed across the road to block the northern approach. He found a spot that offered cover and a good vantage point, and he took a knee.
Jones came over the radio. “Sir, I have movement coming your way. It looks like twelve military-aged men and they are all armed.”
“Villa, do you have eyes on them?”
“Yes, sir, they’re about two hundred meters away. It looks like they came out of a ditch or something.”
“Harden, we have company. I need you to black out your lights and conduct linkup.”
“Anvil 7 moving.”
Barnes left his position but stayed on the far side of the road. Moving in a crouch, he dropped into the low ground and began hand railing the road. He couldn’t see the enemy, but he needed to flank them.
“Boss, you want me to roll ’em up?”
“Stand by. Harden, what’s your location?”
“We are back on the road about five hundred meters out.”
Barnes clawed his way up the steep embankment to make sure he had moved far enough past the rebels before he clicked his radio. “Villa, it’s on you.”
Villa waited until they were within fifteen yards of his position so that Boz would be able to cover him if he had to break contact. He had no idea where the colonel was but was sure that he was lurking somewhere. The sound of the van’s engine was faint but growing as it sped up the road.
He wanted to let them get closer, but they would hear the van soon and he didn’t want to spook them. The first shot broke clean and impacted center mass on the lead rebel. The second round followed a microsecond behind the first and caught the man in the throat as he stumbled forward. Rolling his shoulder into the stock, Villa applied positive pressure to the butt plate for better recoil management.
Villa snapped off two more shots and waited a split second for the optic to settle. The colonel popped up and he saw him prone out on the road and begin engaging targets. Barnes fired so fast that the suppressed rifle sounded like it was on full auto as he tore into the ranks.
Villa deliberately aimed low as he fired, which allowed him to stay on target despite the muzzle rise. Movies depicted operators only shooting at the head, but Villa liked shooting at the pelvis. It was a great target because there were a lot of good organs and veins in the area, and guys tended to bleed out faster if hit low. It also provided a natural transition from one target to the next because it accounted for the increased muzzle rise created by the 7.62 round.
Barnes wished he had a frag, but since he didn’t he clicked his hand mike and said, “Moving.” He came up to a crouch, moved about five meters closer to the rebels, and fired off a burst before he ducked back off the road.
Boz snapped two shots from the hill, but he was close to the effective range of the rifle and the rounds landed short and ricocheted off the ground. “Keep them down. I’m moving,” he said across the radio.
Villa opened up with a burst as the rebels finally reacted to the ambush and began returning fire. Without night vision they couldn’t see who was shooting at them, so they just started spraying lead everywhere.
Barnes had wanted to avoid a firefight because he didn’t know who else was in the area. He saw the van fly through the checkpoint and pull off near the tower. Scottie jumped out of the driver’s seat with his long gun and sprinted toward the metal steps of the tower. Harden had his rifle out but wasn’t sure where his team was, so he didn’t engage.
“Boss, the natives are getting restless and we have guys wearing Hezbollah yellow moving out into the street. I suggest that you start wrapping it up.”
“Roger that.” Barnes dropped his magazine and slipped a fresh one from his kit and into the mag well. Racking the bolt, he began crawling forward along the low side of the road. One of the rebels popped his head up and Scottie fired from the tower. The rebel’s head pitched violently backward before he slammed into the ground.
Boz’s voice came over the radio. “I’m coming up on your right, V.” Scottie fired again and the colonel heard the round’s dull thump as it hit flesh.
“Anvil 6, stay low, we’re going to move on these fuckers.” Villa fired a four-second burst into the rebels’ position, and Boz ran a few feet past him before diving to the ground. He began firing almost immediately to keep their heads down as Villa jumped up and bounded around him.
Once he was set, he ripped off another burst, allowing Boz to move up. They were so close now that he stayed in a crouch and fired as he moved up. The entire ambush had lasted three minutes and all the rebels were down.
“You two clear through. Harden, you and Scottie bring the van up.” Barnes hopped to his feet and doubled back to retrieve his magazine. “Jones, I assume we can’t come through your way.”
The van pulled up as Villa and Boz were checking the bodies. He watched Boz fire a round into a rebel’s face before continuing.
“I wouldn’t risk it. There’s a company-sized element loading up into a couple of technicals and heading your way.”