Echo Six: Black Ops 5 - Strikeforce Syria by Eric Meyer

minutes, his face grim.
    "There's a road just over that next dune, about three hundred meters away, and a Syrian Army checkpoint another two hundred meters further along. We can't get past until we've taken care of it."
    "We hit them, and they'll know we're here," Talley pointed out.
    "They already know we’re here. They shot down our aircraft. Anyway, we don't have a choice. They're across the line of march for Sheikh Najjar. We could maybe detour around them, but it’d take too long, and it would be dawn long before we reach our destination."
    He nodded. "I’ll come with you."
    Guy looked at his leg. "You should rest that leg. I'll take someone else."
    Talley sighed. "Maybe you're right. I'll lead the men to the top of the dune, and as soon as you’ve disposed of the Syrians, we'll be ready to push on. Who will you take with you?”
    "I will go with him."
    They both looked at Rebecca. Despite her diminutive size, she managed to look warlike in her camo kit, ballistic vest, and helmet. On a different girl, it may have looked almost humorous, as if they were just playing soldiers. Not with her. She had a grim expression on her beautiful face, and her body was tensed, almost like a coiled snake ready to strike.
    Maybe it won't be such a bad idea to see what she can do. When it comes to serious action, I'll know if I can depend on her.
    He nodded his agreement, and the two started climbing up the dune. Talley followed them more slowly, limping, and the rest of his men came behind. If the attack failed, they’d be needed to finish off the Syrians. When he looked up again the two had disappeared over the summit. He stopped them just short of the top and peered over. They had a portable generator, and he could hear the quiet beat of the gas engine that powered the checkpoint lights. Two soldiers were leaning against the hood of their vehicle, an old Russian-built UAZ 469, the four-wheel drive utility widely used by former Soviet bloc countries, as well as the many nations they'd supplied over the years with weapons and equipment. The road they guarded was little more than a track through the desert, and wide enough to allow the passage of light vehicles in both directions, or heavier traffic, like armor, in a single direction.
    They'd slewed the UAZ so that it blocked the road, but they didn't look as if they expected anything to arrive soon. The way they lounged, smoking cigarettes and talking quietly, suggested they were not expecting trouble. He saw Guy and Rebecca slipping through the shadows, visible from their elevated position but following a route that kept them out of the line of sight of the soldiers. They maneuvered to a point only ten meters from the two Syrians and waited. The soldiers suddenly jerked around to glance away from them. Probably Guy or Rebecca had thrown a small stone to divert them. As the men's heads turned, they leapt forward, and Talley was rewarded with a demonstration of Rebecca's skills. She was like a charging leopard, racing forward in a fast, fluid, and flowing movement that almost defeated the eye.
    One moment, she was crouched down in cover, the next she was behind one of the soldiers with her hand held close to his neck, the blackened combat blade all but invisible. She transferred her forward momentum into a lightning slash of the blade, and the man was dead before he hit the ground. A fraction of a second later, Guy’s target followed him. Talley turned to his men and nodded.
    "Let’s go."
    They slid and tumbled down the steep dune. Guy nodded as they came up to him.
    "I took a look around. There's no radio, so no one is likely to call up and get suspicious when they don't answer."
    "That's good news." He turned to Rovere and Reynolds. "Toss those bodies in the jeep and drive it out into the desert, somewhere they won't find it too soon. As soon as we've covered our tracks, we can press on." He checked his wristwatch.
    The delay at the checkpoint means there's no way we can reach our