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Part 22
Jim lead a team of 3 other Group members down to the Op site using a route never used by the Group before. Since the retreat would now be 8 men short, the retreat was put on full alert and was to remain so until the sweep team returned.
First priority was retrieving Rick's body. To save time it was decided that one of the captured ATV's would be used to carry Rick's body back to the retreat. Jim didn't like the idea all that much, but it would save time and keep more people on the ground here. If Rick's body would have been carried it would have required at least 2 people, 1 to carry and 1 to guard as they hiked back to the retreat.
Dusk was close. Jim's team arrived at the Op just before dusk.
"Dude, you should have seen it " Lyle started
"Have you re-positioned the guys?" Jim asked.
"No, why?" Lyle replied.
"Alright, we need to move our shooters to alternate positions as soon as it get's dark. When it's good and dark we will put one man near the road intersection with an NVD, then two of us will sweep area, check the bodies and fix the fence. How many killed or wounded?" Jim said.
"Four killed, one got away. It was the damnedest thing, I was sure I scored a hit on him also! He never got off his ATV, sat their with it idling while the other two shot the cow." Lyle said.
"How did Rick get shot?" Jim asked.
"One of them got into the ditch by the side of the road there. We thought we had him pinned down so I sent Chuck and Rick flanking them. They planned to cross the road and work the treeline down to get a shot at him since there's no cover over here. Anyways, he must have crawled a good ways down. Lyle said he shot Rick as he crossed the road." Lyle said.
"They shot a cow?" Jim asked.
"Yes, we were still getting everyone into position when they shot it. Two are down near the cow. The cow was a light brown, so it should be easy to see at night." Lyle said.
"Did the ATV's get shot up?" Jim asked.
"One did, don't know about the others."
"Any other sign of activity since then?" Jim asked.
"No, we've been watching though." Lyle said.
When it turned good and dark, the Op team was moved to alternate positions that could still cover the field, yet were away from the position they shot from.
Jim sent Steve to a cover position at the road intersection. Jim and Lyle moved up through the field to check on the bodies and fix the fence.
Pablo lay in a pool of blood on the ground clinging to life. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. Did that old man that owned the cows do this? Their had to have been 5 or 6 guns on that hill shooting at them. Were they relatives of the old man? None of this made any sense. The old man was a mark, an easy target.
He couldn't feel anything on his right arm and the wound on his thigh still bleed. He tried to muster up the strength to turn over and crawl. If he could get back to his ATV he could get out of here. He would wait till dark so those gringo madecones couldn't see him moving. Where was his SKS?
As Jim and Lyle approached the dead cow, Jim caught the outline of a body in the high grass . He waived his hand towards Lyle then pointed at his eyes and then towards the body. Lyle was wearing a pair of PVS14 night vision goggles and would verify if the man was dead.
Lyle stood over the body and prodded it with his AK while looking at the man with the goggles. He was obviously dead. A 12 gauge "Maverick" brand shotgun with the barrel hacked off, lay next to the man's body. Lyle scanned around for the other body but could find nothing.
Meanwhile, Jim was sweeping about 10 yards to Lyle's right. As he approached the fence he started to trip on something.
"Oh shi%! Don't move!" Jim yelled.
"No muevete (sp)!" Jim yelled again, hoping he had used the right word in Spanish.
Jim was now backing up from Pablo as Lyle moved in with the NVG's.
Lyle spotted the SKS on the ground about 5 feet from Pablo. He moved forward to Pablo, left his AK hang on the tactical sling, he dropped both knees into Pablo as he straddled him. Pablo was search, then restrained and quickly tied with 550 cord.
Cries of pain came as Lyle wretched Pablo's wounded shoulder as he tied his hands.
"He's wounded on the shoulder, pretty bad." Lyle said to Jim as he searched Pablo.
Jim brought his pocketscope up and searched the surrounding area, it was clean. Jim could see the ATV Pablo rode in on, not 10 yards from where Pablo lay.
"He's clean, should I cap him?" Lyle said.
"No, we need to get him out of here right away." Jim said.
"Chuck come in, this is Jim over"
"This is Chuck, go ahead."
"Got one here. Need to extract him right away. Do you have cable ties or cuffs? Over."
"Yes, sending them down now, over"
Jim left Lyle to cover Pablo and wait for the cuffs. Jim went over and checked out the remaining two ATV's. The first one was close. It didn't seem to have any damage. Jim walked down to the second ATV, about 50 yards away. Jim noticed a wierd smell. Looking around with the Pocketscope, he noticed a long black mark on the pavement. Following it a few yards, Jim bent down and touched it. It was oil. The ATV that got away must have been leaking oil. Lyle had said he thought he scored a hit on it, he must have. If they followed it, it might give them an idea where he went. A smiled broadened on Jim's face.
He checked the other ATV and it also seemed undamaged. Jim started it and rode it over to near where Lyle was with Pablo.
Lyle and Jim carried Pablo over to the ATV that had a front carry rack on it. Using 550 cord, they tied Pablo on to the rack as a hunter would a deer he just bagged. Jim and Lyle then headed back to the retreat with Pablo. Their was a lot of unanswered questions now, Pablo would help in this, one way or the other.
Jim lead a team of 3 other Group members down to the Op site using a route never used by the Group before. Since the retreat would now be 8 men short, the retreat was put on full alert and was to remain so until the sweep team returned.
First priority was retrieving Rick's body. To save time it was decided that one of the captured ATV's would be used to carry Rick's body back to the retreat. Jim didn't like the idea all that much, but it would save time and keep more people on the ground here. If Rick's body would have been carried it would have required at least 2 people, 1 to carry and 1 to guard as they hiked back to the retreat.
Dusk was close. Jim's team arrived at the Op just before dusk.
"Dude, you should have seen it " Lyle started
"Have you re-positioned the guys?" Jim asked.
"No, why?" Lyle replied.
"Alright, we need to move our shooters to alternate positions as soon as it get's dark. When it's good and dark we will put one man near the road intersection with an NVD, then two of us will sweep area, check the bodies and fix the fence. How many killed or wounded?" Jim said.
"Four killed, one got away. It was the damnedest thing, I was sure I scored a hit on him also! He never got off his ATV, sat their with it idling while the other two shot the cow." Lyle said.
"How did Rick get shot?" Jim asked.
"One of them got into the ditch by the side of the road there. We thought we had him pinned down so I sent Chuck and Rick flanking them. They planned to cross the road and work the treeline down to get a shot at him since there's no cover over here. Anyways, he must have crawled a good ways down. Lyle said he shot Rick as he crossed the road." Lyle said.
"They shot a cow?" Jim asked.
"Yes, we were still getting everyone into position when they shot it. Two are down near the cow. The cow was a light brown, so it should be easy to see at night." Lyle said.
"Did the ATV's get shot up?" Jim asked.
"One did, don't know about the others."
"Any other sign of activity since then?" Jim asked.
"No, we've been watching though." Lyle said.
When it turned good and dark, the Op team was moved to alternate positions that could still cover the field, yet were away from the position they shot from.
Jim sent Steve to a cover position at the road intersection. Jim and Lyle moved up through the field to check on the bodies and fix the fence.
Pablo lay in a pool of blood on the ground clinging to life. This wasn't supposed to happen like this. Did that old man that owned the cows do this? Their had to have been 5 or 6 guns on that hill shooting at them. Were they relatives of the old man? None of this made any sense. The old man was a mark, an easy target.
He couldn't feel anything on his right arm and the wound on his thigh still bleed. He tried to muster up the strength to turn over and crawl. If he could get back to his ATV he could get out of here. He would wait till dark so those gringo madecones couldn't see him moving. Where was his SKS?
As Jim and Lyle approached the dead cow, Jim caught the outline of a body in the high grass . He waived his hand towards Lyle then pointed at his eyes and then towards the body. Lyle was wearing a pair of PVS14 night vision goggles and would verify if the man was dead.
Lyle stood over the body and prodded it with his AK while looking at the man with the goggles. He was obviously dead. A 12 gauge "Maverick" brand shotgun with the barrel hacked off, lay next to the man's body. Lyle scanned around for the other body but could find nothing.
Meanwhile, Jim was sweeping about 10 yards to Lyle's right. As he approached the fence he started to trip on something.
"Oh shi%! Don't move!" Jim yelled.
"No muevete (sp)!" Jim yelled again, hoping he had used the right word in Spanish.
Jim was now backing up from Pablo as Lyle moved in with the NVG's.
Lyle spotted the SKS on the ground about 5 feet from Pablo. He moved forward to Pablo, left his AK hang on the tactical sling, he dropped both knees into Pablo as he straddled him. Pablo was search, then restrained and quickly tied with 550 cord.
Cries of pain came as Lyle wretched Pablo's wounded shoulder as he tied his hands.
"He's wounded on the shoulder, pretty bad." Lyle said to Jim as he searched Pablo.
Jim brought his pocketscope up and searched the surrounding area, it was clean. Jim could see the ATV Pablo rode in on, not 10 yards from where Pablo lay.
"He's clean, should I cap him?" Lyle said.
"No, we need to get him out of here right away." Jim said.
"Chuck come in, this is Jim over"
"This is Chuck, go ahead."
"Got one here. Need to extract him right away. Do you have cable ties or cuffs? Over."
"Yes, sending them down now, over"
Jim left Lyle to cover Pablo and wait for the cuffs. Jim went over and checked out the remaining two ATV's. The first one was close. It didn't seem to have any damage. Jim walked down to the second ATV, about 50 yards away. Jim noticed a wierd smell. Looking around with the Pocketscope, he noticed a long black mark on the pavement. Following it a few yards, Jim bent down and touched it. It was oil. The ATV that got away must have been leaking oil. Lyle had said he thought he scored a hit on it, he must have. If they followed it, it might give them an idea where he went. A smiled broadened on Jim's face.
He checked the other ATV and it also seemed undamaged. Jim started it and rode it over to near where Lyle was with Pablo.
Lyle and Jim carried Pablo over to the ATV that had a front carry rack on it. Using 550 cord, they tied Pablo on to the rack as a hunter would a deer he just bagged. Jim and Lyle then headed back to the retreat with Pablo. Their was a lot of unanswered questions now, Pablo would help in this, one way or the other.
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