Read Online Direct Action - 03 by Jack Murphy - Free Book Online Page B

it for a long time but I guess he is starting to lean away from America and more towards China these days so someone wanted to give him a gut check. That's my take on it anyway.”
    “Its a good thing we took them out.”
    Ramon turned to him and whispered, “Look, you did good today. Just keep your head down and they will offer you a full-time job. We do a lot of killing and make good money at it. Its just harder for us Army guys to get an in with them.”
    “I got it.”
    But Deckard didn't get it. He had completely misread Ramon by thinking he was a SEAL.
    They picked it up and started their descent. It was a long haul through the morning as they suffered in the heat and slipped down through the dirt and debris. A few times they had to cling to the sides of cliffs and move hand over hand until they could find a wider path down the mountain. Bill was up front again and he began talking into his radio when the road came into view. There was no sign of their ride home, but he was talking to someone.
    They walked down a spur-coming off the mountain overlooking the road and halted. Bill signaled them to stay low as they gathered around a rocky outcropping that looked like something that belonged on the set of Conan the Barbarian.
    At this point, they were only a few hundred meters above the road. Down below was a village with a stream running alongside the road. Terraced fields were dug into the opposite side of the valley with houses and huts propped up against the sides of the cliffs at impossible angles. People lived where the water was, no matter how ridiculous the terrain might be. They learned to live there.
    In the stream next to the road, a woman in a blue burka stood in the water up to her ankles, washing dishes, pots, and pans that she laid next to her one by one as she scrubbed them out.
    “Where is our GI Joe Army guy?” Bill asked. “Deckard, get your ass up here.”
    Deckard high-crawled over to Bill and watched the scene below.
    “You see that Hodji twat down there?”
    “Yeah.”
    “This is our extraction point and that fucking cunt is in the way. She'll compromise us. You're disguised as a local, so I want you to get close to her and cut her fucking throat. Think you can do it?”
    “Yeah,” Deckard said without hesitation.
    “You got a knife?”
    “No, just the kit you issued me.”
    “Here,” Bill said handing him a rusty butcher knife. Another local purchase. “Make it happen. Once it is done we will come down and I'll call in our driver.”
    “Piece of cake.”
    “Yeah,” Bill said dryly. “We'll find out in a few minutes, won't we?”
    “Do that bitch Deckard,” Rick told him. “God only knows how many puppies she will squeeze out that will become Allah lovin' terrorists.”
    Deckard looked down at the road for a moment and plotted his route down to the stream. He figured it out in a few seconds and then dropped down below the crest of the spur, keeping the terrain feature between himself and the woman below. He stepped very carefully now so not to give away his position. Stepping from heel to toe, he slowly maneuvered his way down to the road. The small stones still ground beneath his footsteps but that couldn't be helped.
    Moving slowly, he made it down to the road, then crossed it out of sight of the woman. With any luck, she would have finished her task and have walked back home by the time he got there. Another reason why he was in no rush.
    There was no way that Deckard was going to murder a civilian in cold blood. The game was over before he had even gotten started. Bill had called his bluff. They wanted to see if he was one of them, ensure that he was a war criminal and just as guilty as the rest of the group. No doubt, the entire Liquid Sky team would have their rifles pointed at him and the woman, ready to open fire on them both if he failed to complete his task.
    Crouching in a thicket of bushes, he checked his AK-47 and Glock pistol to make sure he had rounds chambered and