IFP

“Unfortunately we don’t know anything about this building other than that there are two doors and going through either of them is a risk. So we’ll split up. Schultz, Maldonado and Perra will go through the front door. Winslow, you and me will head around the side door. Take out the guards as quietly as you can and as soon as you’re in position let me know and I’ll give the go signal. Alright, let’s finish this.” As I finished telling them the plan, we all dispersed and went to work.
There was only one guard protecting my entrance. I looked to Winslow and he nodded. A second later the man had a new hole in his forehead and the path was clear for me and Winslow. We moved to the door and waited for the others to be ready.
“In position.” Schultz said over his mic.
“Go!” I said back.
Winslow and I busted open the door with guns level and ready. It was a 20-foot hallway with no cover. No enemies either though. Gunshots erupted up ahead and I realized the others didn’t have the same luck as we did.
Winslow sprinted forward and came to a staircase. We climbed up it and arrived on a raised walkway that overlooked the bottom room. To our right was what appeared to be a single room that was only accessible from the walkways. The room below was a filled with packing crates and the others were pinned down near the entrance. Winslow and I began taking out the terrorists on the raised walkways to help out the others. I made quick work of two of them with my M4. A third managed to get the drop on me and attempted to stab me with his combat knife. He swung it at me with his right hand and I caught his wrist with my right hand and stopped his momentum. I used my left hand to break his arm at the elbow, causing him to drop the knife. I then grabbed him by the neck and threw him over the railing and he plummeted to the concrete floor below.
While I had been fighting the man with the knife, Winslow had managed to eliminate the rest of the men on the walkways and Schultz had been gunned down. That only left four of them. There were two men left down below. From our elevated position, Winslow and I made quick work of them.
All that was left was the office. Alhabid had to be inside and he knew we were coming. Winslow and I moved to the door and kicked it open. There stood Alhabid behind a flipped over desk with an AK-47. He opened fire immediately and Winslow and I were forced to take cover on the edges of the door.
“Come and get it you scum!” Alhabid yelled to us.
I looked to Winslow and waved my hand right above my head. He nodded and began to blind fire his side arm right above where Alhabid was and forced him to take cover behind his desk and this was my opening. I sprinted in and hopped over the desk. When I landed I grabbed his weapon and ripped it away from him. I then took it by the barrel and slammed the butt of the weapon across his face. Alhabid was out cold.
Several minutes later what was left of the squad and a constrained and unconscious Alhabid stood outside of the warehouse as Perra finished putting the final touches on the closing ceremonies. We all retreated to a safe distance and took cover.
“Fire in the hole.” Perra said as he pressed the detonator. The warehouse was leveled in seconds.
I removed Schultz and Butler’s dog tags from my pocket and stared at them. We had accomplished our mission, but at a heavy price. I knew that had things been done different, they could have made it through too. Their blood was on my hands.