A Shadow Company Tale

The Download

The two rockets streaked down and slammed directly into the two UAZs. "Moving vehicles have been neutralized. Be advised, we have not, I repeat, we have not spotted Makarov, and no one else has left the house. Those trucks may have been decoys, over."

Two more UAZs pulled out into the driveway but the occupants dismounted as the Operatives quickly gunned down the eight mercenaries.

"Roger that, we're advancing on the house now! Clear the perimeter! Breach and clear the safehouse! Go! Go!" Ghost motioned for the team to stack up as Roach broke down the door. The team went in as the mercenaries attempted to repel the attack but were all wiped out in the process.

Ghost turned to Ozone, "Office clear! Ozone, make sure no one leaves through the kitchen."

Ozone nodded, "Roger that."

"Scarecrow, gimme a sitrep."

"No one's leaving through the front of the basement."

"Snow, Angel, go upstairs and check any locked rooms on the top floor. Breach and clear."

"Roger." Snow and Angel quickly ran upstairs. An explosion was heard followed by more gunshots.

"Top floor is clear!"

"What the fuck?" A voice was heard off the radio. "These are some nasty guys. They have a blow up doll in here - USED."

This caused the men to chuckle a bit before Ghost turned to Roach, Flora, and Scarecrow, "Roger that, top floor clear! Roach, go with Scarecrow and Flora, and check the basement for enemy activity. Breach and clear. Go."

The trio nodded and ran downstairs. More gunshots were heard as Angel and Snow came walking down the wood stairs.

"Basement clear!" Scarecrow radioed.

Ghost listened to the radio, "Copy, basement clear!" He looked around, "All clear. Squad, regroup on me. Scarecrow, photographs."

Scarecrow nodded and moved over to one of the tables containing every bit of intelligence possible and began to take photographs. Ghost once again pushed down on his comtacs, "Shepherd, this is Ghost. No sign of Makarov, I repeat, no sign of Makarov. Captain Price, any luck in Afghanistan?"

"Plenty...at least fifty hired guns here, but no sign of Makarov. Perhaps our intel was off."

Ghost turned to the table that was littered with a laptop still plugged in. "Well, the quality of the intel's about to change. This safehouse is a bloody goldmine."

Shepherd crackled over the radio, "Copy that. Ghost, have your team collect everything you can for an operations playbook. Names, contacts, places, everything."

A grin appeared under Ghost's mask. "We're already on it sir. Makarov will have nowhere to run."

"That's the idea. I'm bringing up the extraction force, E.T.A. five minutes. Get that intel. Shepherd out."

Ghost exhaled, turning to Roach. "Roach, get on Makarov's computer and start the transfer. Ozone, you're on rear security. I've got the front. Go."

He turned to Angel and Snow, "You two cover the east side."

"Flora, Katana. Make your way back to Archer and Toad and prep for exfil." Everyone nodded and began to split up.

"Task Force, this is Price. More of Makarov's men just arrived at the boneyard... Soap, cover me. I'm gonna slot that guy over there and use his radio to tap into their comms. Ghost, we're going silent for a few minutes. Good luck up there in Russia. Price out."

"Roach, connect the DSM to Makarov's computer." Roach connected the DSM and stood back as the DSM began to connect.

Ghost exhaled as the team gathered one final time. "Makarov's men are going to do whatever it takes to keep us from leaving with this intel. We need to protect the DSM until the transfer's done. Use the weapons caches and set up your claymores if you've got any left. Defensive positions, let's go!"

The team broke as the pair ran outside through the treeline as explosions were heard.

"What the hell was that?" Scarecrow spoke over the radio.

"Be advised, you have a large concentration of hostiles moving in from the southeast, they've just breached the perimeter! I'll try to thin 'em out before they get too close. Recommend you switch to scoped weapons, over." Archer spoke as he and Toad engaged the hired guns.

"Roger that! Everyone, cover the field to the southeast! Move!"

"This is Katana and Flora, we have eyes on them. Engaging." A light machine gun quickly opened up suppressing many of the hired guns.

"I got eyes on! Here they come! They're in the field to the southeast!"

"RPG team moving in from the southwest!"

"Got it! RPG team moving in from the southwest! Engaging!" Ozone replied to Archer's spotting.

"How many files does that thing need to download? We need to move now!" Katana shouted to Flora.

"Roger, displacing!" The duo continued to move further and further to Toad and Archer's location.

"I have eyes on additional hostile forces moving in on your position. They're approaching from the solar panels east of the house." Archer identified more and more hostile forces.

"Roger, I'll try to cut 'em off as they come through the trees." Scarecrow confirmed the visualization. Katana and Flora sat down again and set up covering the East from a decently concealed spot.

"If they move to that front door, we gun 'em down."

"Yeah." Katana exhaled as Flora aimed steadily.

"I'm displacing. You're gonna be without sniper support for thirty seconds, standby."

The radio comms went silent until Archer spoke yet again, "RPG team moving in from the east!"

Katana focused on the group that was spotted, eight people. One carried his RPG, and the rest carried AK47s as they neared the front door. She aimed down steadily with her ACR and shot the first one in the head as Flora opened up with her M240 downing the rest of the squad.

"RPG team moving in from the east!"

"Roger that. RPG team moving in from the east!"

"Enemy fast-attack choppers coming in from the northwest." Archer reported as more hired guns ran into the area.

"Roger that. Enemy helos approaching from the northwest." Ghost once again repeated.

"We gotta cover the front lawn!" Scarecrow shouted.

"I'm moving to the main windows, I need someone to mine and cover the driveway approach."

A hailstorm of bullets came whizzing into the house as one struck flesh.

"I'm hit!" Scarecrow hit the ground and groaned, the bullet mortally wounding him. He soon quieted down, not speaking or moving at all.

"Scarecrow is down! I repeat, Scarecrow is down!" Ozone shouted, going into a near frenzy as his brother was killed in front of him.

A ding was heard, Ghost shouted, "Roach, the transfer is complete! I'll cover the main approach while you get the DSM! Move!"

Roach ran over to the computer and ripped the DSM off the laptop following Ghost. Ozone, Snow, and Angel soon ran behind attempting to cover the group.

"This is Shepherd. We're almost at the LZ. What's your status, over?"

"We're on our way to the LZ! Roach, let's go!"

The small group continued to run as Archer and Toad sniped the hired guns chasing. "LMG crew, displace west."

Flora and Katana began to pick up their weapon and ran to the west, a bit parallel to Ghost's team. "We need to make it to the LZ!"

Meanwhile Roach and Ghost continued to run out, seeing Shepherd's Pavelow until a mortar landed directly in front of Roach. He was thrown to the ground. His vision soon faded to black as he watched another mortar land in the trio moving to pick him up. Snow and Angel flew to the ground but soon picked themselves up. Ozone remained motionless.