*Disclaimer. This story is set during 2022 with all current world events and political climates happening. I will be pulling from real life events from around the globe as well as doing research to try and make those events and anything military related accurate. I hold the upmost respect to those who serve and continue to keep our country safe. But I just want to make things clear, that though the events surrounding the things I write about in this story are true, all encounters and fighting in this story are completely made up. Please be advised that any and all negative or political comments will be deleted, reported and blocked. If you are unable to abide by that please do not read past this point.*

The heat of the desert in Afghanistan is just adding to the stress of this mission. What was supposed to be a quiet night raid turned into an all-day affair with minimal supplies, water being one of them. The lack of water is going to soon be a problem if the high value target does not return from his weekly trip. The intel that created this target package for us had to be pretty solid for us to deploy in the first place, but now it looks like the HVT is staying away for longer then command thought.

Next to me, my spotter Robert Rath is looking down his scopes again to see if any vehicles are incoming. We are on this mission to support the army's top Delta Force team, Alpha Team, by providing on sight overwatch and sniper support. This hasn't been Rob and I's first mission with a Delta Force team, but it just happened to be our first with Alpha team. These six guys are some of the most well-trained soldiers I have ever been around. I just want to make sure Robert and I impress them so if they need an additional sniper unit, they want to call on us.

"Everything is still quiet. It seams like this HVT got spooked, I don't think he is coming home today." Robert said and put down his binoculars after his latest look around.

"I don't know how long command is going to let Alpha team sit in his house. We are going to need to at least wait for nightfall to come again before we can clear out. If we try now and get seen, I don't like those odds." I said and put my rifle down.

Our sniper hide is about a half a mile away from the HVTs house on one of the highest buildings around. Robert and I spent the night putting up some netting around the slots of the façade to hide our movements when we needed to break position, like I need to right now. I back away slowly from my perch and rolled out from under the little tent we had to set up to help us hide from the sun. Once I made sure I was behind the wall that lead back downstairs to the main part of the building, I stood up and stretched my body out a bit. I took a towel from my pack and tried to soak up some of the sweat that keeps pouring down my face but it's not going to help for long.

"How much water do you have?" I asked Robert as I pulled open one of the MREs I had the good sense to take with me.

"Less then I would like if we are going to be out here another night." Robert answered as I bit into a really dry piece of carrot cake.

"Alpha one, any update from your end of things?" I broadcasted into my walkie.

"Negative Eagle. Intel said that HVT would have returned by now. Havoc, do you have anything for us?" Alpha One asked.

"Another Negative Alpha One. We can't risk putting a bird overhead as we officially removed ourselves from the country. If HVT does not return by nightfall then albatross, confirm copy." Havoc answered.

"Good copy Havoc, albatross confirmed if HVT does not return." Alpha one confirmed and I sighed.

Albatross is our code word for pulling out of the opp. At least we have confirmation that we aren't going to be stuck out here all night. I continued eating the MRE I had and when I was done, I downed almost half of my water supply. When I packed everything away I wiped my head and face again before crawling back under the tent to take my place next to Rob.

"Looks like you are just in time, we have some movement, two trucks moving in on the road where HVT is supposed to come through." Rob said as I continued to crawl back into position.

"Alpha One, Eagle." I said into my walkie.

"Go Eagle." He responded.

"I think you guys might have some company shortly. Two vehicles just turned down the road to HVTs house, look alive." I said.

"Good copy Eagle." Alpha one responded.

"This better be them." Robert said as he picked up his binoculars.

Robert started giving me the measurements I needed to make sure if I need to fire from here, I would hit the target. The two trucks just kept getting closer and closer to the HVTs house and finally they stopped right in front.

"All Alpha elements, showtime." I said giving them the ready codeword as we watched eight people get out of the trucks.

"Were they expecting eight?" Robert asked as I started to make a sweep of all of the men who just got out of the trucks.

"I doubt it, it doesn't look like HVT is one of them." I said still looking for the face that was burned into my brain while studying the opp plans for this mission.

"No he isn't among them, wait, there is another truck coming down the road with a gunner on top and another truck behind. He has to be in the second truck. The first two vehicles are probably foot soldier security." Robert said as I moved to getting look with my own gun.

"Fuck. Alpha One, eight men are about to breach HVT location, HVT is not in that first wave. Another two vehicles are coming down the road, one with a heavy gun on top with a second truck behind, he has to be in that second truck." I said relaying all of the information to them.

"Good copy Eagle, when they get closer confirm HVT and take out the heavy gunner, we will take care of the first wave as they come through the door." Alpha one responded.

"Confirmed Alpha One." I responded and started to get my breathing in check. I watched as the second wave got closer to the house.

The heavy gunner had his fingers on the triggers and I knew they are the party to be concerned about. The second group is going to defend their leader at all costs. The only noise that could be heard were the trucks coming down the road. Robert kept an eye on the house while I watched the second convoy as they pulled up to the house. It looks like Alpha team took care of the first wave without issue as the second party disembarked their trucks.

"Watch heavy gunner, I've got HVT." I said and panned to the second truck and watched as the man of the hour got out of the truck and was surrounded by his security.

"Alpha one, confirmed HVT on target, surrounded by three hostiles with automatic weapons. Will remove heavy gunner once HVT is inside." I walkied over.

Two radio clicks were heard in response meaning he got the message. Whenever we have to be silent but need to confirm something over walkie, two clicks meant affirmative while three meant negative. The HVT and his party started to make their way over to the door of his house. It looked like HVT was annoyed about something because threw his hand up and two of his protectors walked into the house without him. Shit. When they didn't come right back out, the third security guard pulled HVT out of range of the front door. I didn't waist any time, I pulled my trigger and hit the heavy gunner square in the head and watched as his skull exploded on impact of the bullet. But the damage was done, HVT was running towards the second truck with the one guard.

"Heavy gunner down, HVT trying to escape in second truck." I relayed and watched as the HVT got into his truck with the driver.

"I got HVT, you get driver." I told Rob and moved my spot for a better shot.

"Confirmed, on your mark." Rob said and got into position. The HVT was yelling at the driver and I got lined up for my shot.

"Three, two, one." I counted down and pulled the trigger. I heard Robs gun fire and watched as the bullets sailed through the air, pierce the windshield and hit the targets.

"Jackpot, Jackpot, Jackpot." I said and sagged against my gun.

"Good copy Eagle. Proceed to exfil point when ready, your ride will be waiting, Havoc out." Command said and wiped the sweat from my eye.

I quickly started to break down my rifle and got it packed away while Rob started to pull down our hide. When it was all gone and everything was packed up we got back into our heavy gear. My vest went back on along with my helmet and I made sure the night vision was working as dusk is approaching. After all of my gear was good, I picked up my M4 and looked around. Rob packed everything into his pack and was just assembling his helmet when I looked over.

"You ready for this?" I asked making sure I was good.

"Nope, but I'm ready to get the hell off this roof." Rob said and shouldered his M4.

I went over to the door and pulled the steal pipe from the door handle that's been holding it closed this entire time. Rob went down the stairs first, as quietly as he can. We moved through the building down to the ground floor and checked the coast was clear before we moved out of the building and down the street to rendezvous with Alpha team. They met us right were they said they'd be waiting and we started our walk. We tried to be quick but from being out in the hot sun all day in almost full gear was clearly slowing us all down.

We only had a bit longer to go before we got to the waiting trucks but this was the most dangerous area of the village. It's a prime Isis strong point and we knew if anybody saw us, we would start a fire fight none of us wanted right now. Alpha team slowed there pace a bit and then came to a stop. It took a few seconds for the threat to clear but they started moving again and this time it was more of a run then a walk.

Just as we started to slow down again gun fire rang out and I whipped my head around to try and find where it was coming from. A few Alpha team guys did the same and started to return fire when they spotted them while the rest of us got to cover. After we got to cover I scanned the roof tops a few times to make sure there wasn't anybody watching us from above. But there was. I couldn't tell who he was aiming at but I took the shot before he could fire at anybody. The body fell three stories with a sickening crack as he hit the ground.

"Nice shot Eagle." One of the guys said as I continued to scan.

"Sky's look clear if we can move." I said.

"Lets go then." Someone said and we were on the move again.

We didn't get far this time before some more gun fire rang out a lot closer to us then before. We all stopped to return fire and then someone yelled out grenade. Nobody saw it fly in and nobody saw it land. The next thing I knew, I was blown backwards and hit the dirt and gravel road face first. My ears were ringing as I shook my head and looked up. Rob was on the ground behind me and that made me push myself up. I crawled over to him and shook his chest.

"Rob, Rob!" I called his name until he answered me and I sighed.

With him okay, I looked around for my weapon and found it not far from me. I reach out for it and picked it up before looking around. Most of Alpha team looked okay, just one guy who was standing closer to the grenade looked pretty bloody, I just can't tell where its coming from.

"We need to move" I called over and tried to see if there was any enemy around us.

"Agreed, you guys good to move?" Alpha two asked.

"Yes" I answered trying to get my head to stop ringing.

"Okay, we just need to rush, there is only a half a click to trucks, lets move." Alpha One said and I stood from the floor.

My vision swam and I knew I might have a concussion from the blast. I closed my eyes for a second and let it pass before I opened them and pulled Rob up from the ground. He was shaky on his feet so I threw his arm around my shoulders and we followed behind Alpha team. We rushed through the last of the village and got to the waiting trucks. All of us basically threw ourselves inside and the doors were barely closed when the drivers took off.

I pushed my helmet off and leaned back in the seat. Almost home. The drive through the desert took about an hour before we heard the helicopters inbound. The driver pulled to a stop next to the other truck and we all got out. Just as the helios touched down, Alpha team lit flares and threw them into the trucks we just used, covering our trace and we jumped into the helicopter after it touched down. The copter was barely on the ground before we were off again, flying low and out of the country, undetected.

The flight took another hour and finally we touched down in Turkey. Alpha Team rolled out first but we didn't get far when Lieutenant Colonel Abrams was waiting for us once we got inside the ready room.

"Daniella you have a phone call." He said and held out the phone.

"Who sir?" I asked and took the satellite phone from him. He didn't say anything, just avoided my eyes. "Hello?" I said into the phone.

"Daniella?" Mom's voice filtered through the connection.

"Mom, what's wrong?" I asked knowing if I got a phone call like this it was never good news.

"It's your father chicken, he, he had a heart attack while at work and he didn't survive." Mom said.

"What?" I asked as I felt the rug get pulled out from under me.

"Your father died Daniella." Mom said.

I couldn't say anything back to her as I felt my chest get really tight. All of a sudden I was on the floor and the phone clattered next to me. Robert was in front of me a few seconds later but I couldn't hear a word he was saying. My dad died and I'm half way around the world on mission.

a/n: the amount of times I have reread and edited this chapter... so happy to finally post it. this story is definitely going to be a bit different then my others, more gritty and a lot of grief and sadness in the first portion of the book before we turn back to missions. let me know what you think so far and drop a like and comment below. first chapter will come next sunday as for now i'll be posting weekly updates on sunday. song on the side is The Sound of Silence by Disturbed.