You're Under Arrest Fan Fiction ❯ The Siege ❯ Little Bird Down ( Chapter 7 )

The Siege

Chapter 7: Little Bird Down

By JagdPanther

First Lieutenant Arleigh Rivera finally returned to the Tactical Operations Center after checking with the Corpsman who had taken care of Tokuno, who fortunately, had been evacuated on the choppers. "Well, that took a little longer than I expected." His smile threatened to engulf his entire face.

Surai looked turned around in his seat and sized Rivera up. "What took you so long, Lieutenant?"

"Meh, I had to take care of some stuff." He noticed the Chief still sitting there. "If you told them everything that you know, you can return to the line now. Tokuno got hit in that last attack. He's fine, got evacuated on the flights out."

"I'm glad he's okay. All right, I'll be going down now." He got up to leave.

Arleigh grabbed his arm as he passed by. "Hey, remember, I just wish you would've told me earlier. No hard feelings, right?"

"Right."

"Good." He watched the older man leave. "Right, back to work. What happened while I was gone, Captain?"

"Glad you asked, Rivera." Surai handed him some coffee. "The first choppers from the 25th came in all right. They dropped off several containers of fuel for the generators. They picked up all the wounded we currently have, including the couple wounded civilians, the few wounded police, and my Marines. Apparently the flight containing troops was called off because of a small mechanical difficulty. So the supplies came instead. That first flight with the troops is already inbound again with new choppers, and should be here in about five minutes. Some MH-6s from the 160th flew in and dropped off more AT-4s and eight Javelin missiles."

"Wow, that's great. No matter where we hit a Type-90 with those it'll be destroyed."

"Yeah, I know. Anyway, I was trying to reach you but I didn't know where you were. Your Army buddies flying those puny things wanted to talk with you personally and laugh at you for doubting that they could fit MH-60s into that Landing Zone along the motor pool area."

Rivera chuckled. "Yup, SOAR boys are like that. At least that'll work, though. That gives us an extra option when things get hot to land choppers. Anything else?"

"Of course. That big group advancing on us? Well, they detoured and we thought they were going somewhere else, but they returned to a course headed for us. They seem to be slowing down even more to let units from the rear catch up with them. They're also making civilians plod among them, so we can't call in Apaches, Cobras, or anything to assault them and spurn them before they even get here. What I hope is that they'll leave the cover of the civies to give them better maneuverability in attacking us, allowing us in-turn to call in air and artillery on them." Surai showed Arleigh the latest recon photos.

"Hmm. Yeah, they probably will ditch them. Hopefully, that doesn't mean that they'll eliminate them, too. If they start doing that, we'll have to strike at them to divert their attention, hopefully giving the civies a chance to run, if they're smart enough to run, though. If that isn't the case, damn, are our snipers going to be in for one hell of a shooting contest." Arleigh gulped down some coffee and perused the photos. He looked at his watch next. "All right, I'm going to go down and meet those guys from the 25th Infantry Division coming in."

"Roger that, Lieutenant."

"Arleigh?"

He stopped short of the door and turned around to face the speaker. "Yeah, Miyuki?"

"Um, can you come here?" She beckoned him close to her. "Um, is she alright? You don't seem worried so I guess I can just assume that she is."

His smile increased. "Of course she's alright. She was just crying."

That shocked her. "What? Natsumi crying? Something was definitely wrong, then. What happened? Was she shaken up or something? I've never know her to do that before."

He sat down on the table and toyed with the safety on his pistol. "Well, she was kind of shaken up. Natsumi was crying because it dawned on her after the fight that she, well, had killed someone. And she saw Tokuno hurt, so that kind of added to it. A couple people, actually. She performed brilliantly from what I heard from a police officer down there. Unfortunately she had the same realization that every sane person has after they've gone through combat for the first time. I took her into one of the administrative rooms downstairs and we talked for a little while and just sat there until a few minutes ago. Basically I just tried to get her to accept what she had done. She's fine, now. Eh, you know, get the story from her later. I've got to make up for the work I missed."

Miyuki was very concerned for her best friend. "So she's all right?"

"Yes, I assure you. She's fine. If you want, you can do down there and talk to her to make sure for yourself."

"No, that's okay. I'll take your word for it. I'm not done here. I'll go down later."

"Eh, well, there might not be downtime for a long time. That attack will come soon and it looks to me like we'll be engaged for a while."

"You sure I can go down? I've still got to get these things transmitted to HQ."

"Yes, yes, go ahead." Arleigh patted her on the shoulder. "Go ahead." Then he got up and left.

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Small bursts of rifle fire reached up at the UH-60 Blackhawks screaming in over the Sumida Ward. The pilot of the helicopter juked the craft around make it a much harder target to hit. `At least I'm not flying over those Anti-aircraft guns to the north,' he thought. "Alpha Six, this is Hotel One-One, I'm inbound with a platoon from the 25th Infantry Division. Do you have anything for me to pick up? Over."

Surai came back on the radio. "One-One, Six. Affirmative. All of our wounded are out, but we've got civilians we need to evacuate. Hold in the front of the building. We'll start loading them as soon as you disembark your cargo. Over."

"Roger that, Six. We'll hold. One-One out." He looked out the window to his right at his wingman. "You catch that Two?"

"Acknowledged, Lead. I copy. ETA one minute."

"Roger, Two. Going to the deck, land side-by-side in front."

The two pilots from the 1st Battalion [Air Assault] of the 25th Aviation Regiment, 25th Infantry Division [Light] slowed to a hover over the turn-around in front of Bokuto Station and set down next to each other. In back of both choppers, twelve in each, twenty-four members of an infantry platoon hopped out and fanned out around the choppers in a circle, taking care to avoid the spinning rotors.

Arleigh ran out from the building's entrance to greet the platoon's commander. "First Lieutenant Arleigh Rivera, Delta Force. And you are?"

"Second Lieutenant Steve Vrabel, 3rd Platoon, Charlie Company, 1st of the 5th."

"Nice to meet you, Vrabel. Set your men up on any floor, but try to equally distribute them to all four sides. Did they brief you back at the airport?" He led the lanky officer inside.

"Yeah, looks like big stuff is coming this way. I brought along a few AT4s and made three guys trade in their rifles for machine guns. Looks like the enemy has positions on most of the prominent roofs around here. Took sporadic AK fire as we flew in." The officer took off his helmet and ran his fingers back through his black hair.

"All right, I'll remember that. I've got snipers on the roof so if anyone wants to take a few pot-shots at us, they'll be meeting a .308 rifle round. Glad to have you aboard, Lieutenant. The rest of your company coming in?" Outside, twenty-four civilians began their flight to safety. Another one-hundred-plus were downstairs with some more who dared to venture outside, trickling in every few minutes.

"Yes, sir. First Platoon is next in line, then 2nd, and 4th. Fourth has a bunch more machine guns, rockets, and 2 81-mm mortars."

"Good. Once we get enough guys to protect the main

Vrabel saluted and started moving his platoon around to different parts of the building.

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The minutes passed and the threat advanced. The enemy force now appeared to be numbering around 400 armed soldiers, nine APCs, most likely filled with more troops, and four Type-90 tanks. Another flight of MH-6s came in, dropping off two large fuel canisters and picking up eight civilians. Soon after another platoon of infantry arrived and the choppers evacuated another twenty-four civilians. Arleigh was in the TOC making sure his sniper rifle was ready to go.

"Captain, we've got about 325 armed personnel defending the building at this time. I want to consult you on this first, but how about we send the next platoon that comes in to occupy that building right over there? I'd say that'd give us a much better chance at winning this thing. Catch the enemy from above as they move in to attack." Arleigh gestured to a smaller building on the corner of the road running in front of the station.

Surai thought for a moment. "Yeah, good idea. I'll make sure to…"

Before the Captain could finish Arleigh's com-set came alive. "Sir, this is Smith at the north-west corner of the roof. I've got a visual on the lead element of the enemy force. They've got civilians directly in front of the two APCs and about twenty soldiers that I can see."

"Hold on a second, Vince." He tapped the transmit button. "Smith, continue observation. Morris, keep watching to the northeast and tell those two Marines to hold their positions. Make sure nothing if coming from another direction." Arleigh turned back to Surai. "Inbound enemies."

"Damn. Call off the reinforcements, you think?"

"Yeah, that'd be best. Don't want them getting shot up." He grabbed his sniper rifle and Ryker. "Captain, I'm heading topside. You need me, you call me. I'm going to see if its possible to take out these guys with snipes to avoid the civilians."

"Okay, Lieutenant. I'll spread the word." Surai got to work informing his platoon leaders around the building to start preparing for a fight.

Arleigh motioned. "Miyuki, come with me. And grab that flak-vest."

"But I thought I was going to be monitoring the photos." She was a bit hesitant, but she picked up the bullet-resistant vest and followed. Miyuki still hadn't gone to talk to Natsumi yet. It had been quite some time since she had seen Ken last, too. She wondered what he was doing.

"Not anymore you're not. New priority for you." He keyed his com again as Ryker and Kobayakowa followed close behind. "Anderson, where are you?"

The Master Sergeant's voice came back strong as ever. "Down at the trailer grabbing some ammo for my rifle. Need something?"

"Yeah, get a spare 24 out with about a hundred rounds and bring it up to the roof. Where were you headed with that ammo?"

"Up to the fourth floor, but I guess not anymore."

"Okay. Listen up, everyone. I'm not just talking to Anderson anymore." All around the station, Arleigh's operators were listening in to the conversation anyway. "If you have your ACOG 4x's and they aren't on your rifle's right now, hurry the hell up and attach them. Single shot, picked targets. I don't want any civilians being hit. Understand?" Eleven acknowledgements came back. "Good. Shoot straight, guys."

Anderson came to the roof, huffing and puffing. By now the lead element was about three hundred meters down the road from the corner of the station. Smith had spotted it at eight hundred meters out, where the road made a sharp bend and went out of sight. The main body of the force appeared there now. The twenty-year veteran of the Army handed rifle and belt of ammo to Arleigh.

"Thanks, Anderson." Miyuki was by his side. He turned to her. "Miyuki, I'm going to ask you a hard question right now. I won't force a decision. But, there's only one way that I can see to save civilians lives right now, and that is to snipe the enemies. So, my question to you is, can you deal with shooting-to-kill? I know you're an outstanding markswoman. I know you have the ability to do it, but what I am asking you is can you deal with killing someone? I need snipers. You're the best one in the station."

Miyuki looked at the rifle. It was a Remington M24 7.62mm .308 Calibre Bolt-Action Sniper Rifle. She had fired one at a shooting expo last year for police. It was a wonderful weapon to fire, she remembered. Semi-glossy black paint covered the ultra-sleek body of the rifle. A long10-power scope topped the rifle. Miyuki knew she could hit a target at this rifle's maximum effective range of over 900 meters, but that was at paper and metal targets. This time it would be people. `Well, Natsumi has already had her trial by fire today. I guess its time for mine. But this wasn't something I planned on doing. Oh, well. Guess I have a job to do.'

To her right, Smith yelled. "150 meters and closing. Orders, sir?"

Arleigh glanced down at his feet and swore. "Pick a target, hold fire."

"Yes, sir."

"Miyuki, I need an answer."

Granted, she wasn't a military person, but she could think of no other way to save the civilians and eliminate the terrorists. Miyuki Kobayakowa reached out and took the rifle. It was already loaded with six rounds. She flipped the scope caps off and set the bi-pod out. "If it's the only way, it's the only way. Where do you want me?" Now she was extra glad that she had changed out of her uniform.

"Thanks, Miyuki. Come right over here. We'll be side-by-side for this. If you can't bring yourself to shoot, just be my spotter. Oh, and get that flak-vest on." Arleigh shouldered his M4A1 and set up his MSG-90A1 Designated-Marksman-Rifle, removing the scope caps and setting its bi-pod. He brought Miyuki over to a spot on the rifle right beside an air-conditioner. "Let's rock n' roll."

Miyuki took aim with the rifle and was presented with her first-ever live target. Not knowing it at the time, she used a tactic that many professional military and police snipers used to stay sane. By focusing on the fact that the target was an enemy who was out to kill you, it made it far easier to pull the trigger. Arleigh did the same next to her.

The enemy was closing to within 50 meters. They were just about to reach the corner of the road and come out in front of the station. "Alright, Smith, Miyuki, be ready to fire on my mark." Downstairs, the defenders had orders from Surai to hold fire. The HMMWVs had been pulled back inside the entrance and waited for the APCs to be killed. Arleigh and the snipers would try to eliminate the enemy, giving the civilians a chance to run, so the defenders could destroy the APCs. Then the snipers would begin targeting the main force, now closing to 600 meters. `They must be moving that slow to keep the civilians amongst them. Oh, well. Gives me more time to work with.' "All right, everyone, commence fire!" He depressed the trigger and sent a round right through the lead-man's shoulder, exploding his heart. Two other soldiers dropped, stunning their comrades and the civilians. Before panic could set in, Arleigh dropped another soldier. His semi-automatic rifle allowed him to fire faster than Smith or Miyuki, wielding bolt-action weapons.

After the other two had taken their second shots, the panic finally set in. The civilians ran for their lives, leaving the confused terrorists naked in the street. The defenders below popped up from their hiding spots and took aim at the enemy left right in the middle of the intersection below. Just as the terrorists came to their senses, another three fell from sniper fire. Both APCs exploded as AT4s struck their sides. The two HMMWVs at the entrance lurched out into the street and eliminated the remaining terrorists with .50-Cal machine gun fire.

Immediately, the three snipers covering to the northwest shifted their aim to the main force. They began cycling their weapons, dropping soldiers as they scrambled under cover to avoid the deadly accurate rain of bullets. The civilians covering that group also fled, some breaking jumping through windows of storefronts in an effort to flee their captors. Miyuki silently egged them on as she dropped her ninth target in nine shots fired. The enemy soldiers were so panicky and disoriented that Miyuki had time to reload the six-round rifle and continue firing. Surprisingly, the APCs weren't returning fire, something they were more than capable of doing with their 35mm cannons.

Using the tanks and APCs as cover, the soldiers came out of hiding and began advancing again. This presented a problem, despite preventing any more deaths by snipers. Hiding made the soldiers unable to control the civilians who fled. In all, some fifty civilians ran. Unfortunately, some were shot by the terrorists before they could duck down alleyways or get into buildings. But the majority survived. Now the tanks and soldiers were open to fire from above and from the sea.

"Cease fire!"

Miyuki and Smith removed their hands from the triggers of their rifles. In all, Arleigh had seventeen kills, Miyuki nine, and Smith thirteen.

"Good shooting, Kobayakowa. You too, Smith." He keyed his com-set. "Surai, call in the Little Birds." Arleigh smiled.

The APCs and troops sped up and within two minutes were fifty meters from the intersection. But it was too late. Two AH-6 Little Birds from the 160th SOAR flew over. The choppers were the attack version of the transports Arleigh had gone to rescue the six officers in almost two weeks ago. Armed with two 7-shot rocket pods and two mini-guns, the choppers made mincemeat out of the remaining soldiers and several of the tanks. They hadn't even heard the choppers buzz in behind them. Only about thirty soldiers remained, along with an APC and both tanks. Downstairs, two Marines set up a Javelin Anti-Tank Missile. The firer leaned out into the open beyond the HMMWV slightly protruding from the entrance, and fired. With a jerk, the missile jumped out of the housing, engaged its engine at a safe distance from the launcher, and sped right into the turret of the lead Type-90. A brilliant explosion rattled the station as the missile hit the tank's ammo magazine. The explosion was so great that it knocked out the second tank, the last APC, and most of the remaining soldiers, who were felled by Arleigh, Miyuki, and Smith, bringing the kill totals to twenty-two, twelve, and sixteen.

That's when the call came in.

"Comet Four-Two is hit!" Silence for a long ten seconds. "We're going down! Four-Two hit! Going down hard! Map Grid, India Seven-Five-One-Eight! Lost the tail rotor! Four-Two going down! We're going down! Danny!"

Comet Four-Two had been one of the AH-6s that provided air support for the defenders. The two choppers had made a circuitous route on the way back, seeing if there were any targets to hit. Several lucky AK hits had knocked out their tail rotor. Out of control, the helicopter aimlessly glided to its left, the direction of the spinning rotors having lost their counter-balancing tail. As it dropped, it bounced off of a few building tops. Pilot Martin Wilson frantically called out his situation, and just before the chopper struck the ground, he shouted the name of his co-pilot, Chief Warrant Officer Daniel Mills. All communication from the chopper ceased.

Three kilometers away, Arleigh watched in stunned silence as the AH-6 went down. Ryker handed him the handset to the radio and he heard Surai calling over the line.

"Little Bird Down! Little Bird Down! Command, this is Alpha Six! We have a Little Bird down at coordinates, Map Grid India Seven-Five-One-Eight!"

"Roger that, Alpha Six. We copy" came back the voice of a radio operator at Camp Zama.

Up on the rooftop, Arleigh jumped to his feet and backpedaled away from the edge of the roof. "Miyuki! Come on! Go downstairs and help deal with the civilians who fled the terrorists," he yelled. Picking his M4A1 off the ground by the door to the stairs, began shouting into his com-set. "This is Delta Five-One! Smith, Morris, Anderson and Ryker, you're staying here! The rest of you, On me! On me! We're going after them! Get two HMMWVs ready to move out!"

He barreled past Marines talking about the engagement and the chopper going down. He stormed into the TOC and threw his sniper rifle on a table. "I'm taking seven of my Deltas out to go get them!"

Surai almost had a heart attack. "No way, Lieutenant! They'll overrun that site in minutes! You'll never make it! Besides, we don't know if those two even survived the crash. What if you run into armor, huh? We'd lose two HMMWVs, eight guys we need defending this place, and most importantly, you! You're the head of the operation, don't forget, I may outrank you but we're all under your command!"

"Too damn bad, sir. I have to try. I'm not letting them hang out to dry."

The Captain was furious. "Then take my Marines with you."

Arleigh pointed to the slip of fabric over his left-breast pocket that read `Army.' "No way, sir. Army goes out for Army. Besides, you said it yourself; we can't afford to lose people. If we get caught, then losing eight is better than losing more than eight. I'm going." Arleigh turned to leave.

"Wait." Surai grabbed the handset from the radio. "Command, Delta Five-One is taking a team out to rescue to the downed crew. Request air support."

"Roger that, we'll chop a team of gunships to you. Archer Flight ETA 2 minutes."

He turned back around. "There's your air support. Now go get those pilots, Rivera."

"Aye, Cap'n" The Army Lieutenant saluted and rushed out, leaving Ryker behind in the TOC.

A voice erupted on the radio again and Surai rushed to listen. "Four-Six, we show another two groups of enemy soldiers advancing from your northeast and southeast. Numbering about three hundred each. Tanks and APCs accompanying. Civilians amongst them. Advancing much faster than the other groups. Suggested ETA to your position, fifteen minutes."

"Damnit."

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Downstairs, Aoi and Yoriko were leading civilians down into the cafeteria. The civilians had fled their captors recently in the battle and were quite shaken up. Once in the large room, Aoi helped an Army medic attend to a man who had been hit by shrapnel from the exploding tank.

"Sir, everything will be alright." Aoi kept her calm despite the commotion around her. The panicky civilians had stirred up all the people in the room. It was hard for her to hear over the din, but she followed the Army medic's basic instructions through her good knowledge of English.

"Okay, sit him up!" yelled the medic.

"All right." Slowly the two worked to remove the metal disc that had lodged in the man's body. She held the man still and the wound slightly open at the same time while the medic used forceps to pull the shrapnel out. It took about two minutes, but the piece was finally extracted. Aoi slowly made her way around to people, trying to calm them. Already Yoriko, other police, and several Marine Corpsman were doing the same.

It was now around 3:20 PM, seven minutes after the shooting stopped. Miyuki had arrived carrying a sniper rifle, which she stowed away under the stairs to avoid agitating the civilians even more. Aoi came to a man babbling to a Marine who obviously had no idea what the man was saying. But she did.

"I've got to speak to whoever is in charge here! They need to know this! Please, find someone who can translate!"

Aoi walked up to him. "Sir, is there a problem?"

"Yes! Can you speak English? I need to talk to the commander here. I have valuable information for the commander."

Aoi looked at the Marines and thought for a moment. "Well, the officers are very busy upstairs right now, but I can bring a message to them for you. Hold on." She scanned the room for a certain fellow officer. "Miyuki!"

Her hair swayed back and forth as she came over to Aoi and the man. "Yes?"

"This guy says he has information about the guys were fighting. You were just upstairs, is Arleigh busy?"

"I don't know. I was up on the roof helping him, well, with something." It was hard for her to say. In her mind, the same thing Natsumi had gone through began to ignite. She was questioning herself, too. But for her, she had something to occupy her and therefore pushed the thought aside and focused on her current task. "He rushed downstairs, I'm not sure where he is. Probably in the operations room." She didn't know that while rushing downstairs he had called the Deltas together to go out and get the down pilots.

"Okay, I won't bother him now, then. Anyway, you speak and understand English better than I do. I offered to go speak to the Americans about what this guy has to say, and so I'll need someone who speaks English better than I do to make sure I get everything across."

"All right."

The man wasn't too happy with the compromise, but he accepted the offer. "Okay, while we were being rounded up and being placed to cover their advance…"

Miyuki cut him off. "You mean the terrorists?"

"Yes, them. I overheard them talking. The terrorists are Japanese, but there are many amongst them who are not. A lot of them appear to be Arab. They were discussing the operation to take over the Ward. Well, they were talking about their fighting. They said that, and I quote, `the diversion is going well.' Now, I'm not sure what that means."

"And?" Aoi was hoping that this man knew a lot more than this. This would be a big help to Arleigh and the defenders.

"They said that they hoped to convince the JGSDF troops by nightfall that the Americans had planned to take over this station and take something out of it, I don't know what, but, anyway. They said that once the troops were convinced, they'd enter the attack too. The JGSDF troops are just sitting around. I was captured near where the military train stopped. The terrorists are using some of the equipment, but none of the troops were actually doing anything that I could see. They were chatting with the terrorists and seemed to be fine with them. I heard some talking about `those dirty Americans' and such. Personally, I think they're all on drugs or something. We were getting abused right there and they didn't care at all. After a while, they moved us down some streets into a wide space by a small footbridge. They made us all pledge our allegiance to their cause or we would be `disposed of.'" The man made quotation marks in the air with his fingers on the last two words. "Anyone who wouldn't was shot. It was terrible. After the first two people were shot, no one dared say no. They said their cause was to rid the cancer of American influence from Japan, and they were starting right here with the Sumida Ward. There were some tourists amongst our group and all of them were shot, regardless of where they came from. Then they made us fill in their formation. They said we'd be soldiers just like them, defending against air attacks. I knew that they meant they were using us to abuse the American's Rules of Engagement when dealing with civilians in combat. It took a long time to march here, but as soon as those snipers opened up on the soldiers, we all made a run for it."

Miyuki was silent. Her mind raced with what the man had just said to her. `Convince, what the hell does that mean? If they let the train come into the Ward and are letting the terrorists use their equipment, then they have to be in some agreement. Maybe that means that they just need to convince them that Americans are here and are kill Japanese. Then the soldiers will be ready to attack us full force. Once they, who are trained soldiers, attack, and in large numbers, this place will be overrun. But what is the diversion all about? Do the terrorists have some ulterior motive for being here? There's got to be something more to this.' "Is there anything else you can tell us?"

The man frowned and thought for a moment. "Not much except that I saw a map that a terrorist was carrying. He tripped near me and I caught a glimpse of the map. It looked like the TV station about six kilometers from here was circled along with several other places throughout the Ward. I couldn't tell what they were, but there was a big circle with `TV Station' written next to it. I have no idea what that means. He picked up the map quick and stuck me. That's how I got this." The man pointed to a large cut on the back of his head.

"Are you okay? Do you need medical attention?" Aoi asked, reaching for some antiseptic pads in her pocket that she had taken from a medical kit earlier.

"No, no, I'm fine."

Despite this, Aoi cleaned the wounded and placed some bandages on it. "There, at least it won't get infected." She threw away the cleaner and took the man's hand. Aoi took Miyuki aside for a moment. "I think they have to hear this from him personally."

"I agree. Let's take him up there now. If this is all true, this could really turn things in our favor. Maybe the government will give us more help. I'll grab my rifle, hold on. Be right back."

"Wait, your rifle?" She was confused.

Miyuki glanced down for a moment. "Um, yeah. Arleigh needed my help shooting upstairs so I was on the roof sniping enemies. It was the only way we could stop them without hitting civilians in the process."

"Oh, are you okay?"

"Yes, I'm fine." She knew she wasn't, but there was a time and place for that and it wasn't now or here.

Aoi nodded and turned back to the man. "We're not taking a message for you. You're coming with us. I think the commander will listen to that anyway. I need you to tell him exactly what you told me." Before they could begin to leave, shooting upstairs erupted. Aoi held the man back and looked up at the ceiling, along with everyone else trying to gauge the horrendous firefight. Two Delta Force medics, three Marines, and two Army soldiers raced into the cafeteria carrying two badly wounded men. They wore pilots' uniforms. Clearing off two tables and shooing away people, the Delta medics immediately began working on the pilots. One pilot wasn't breathing.

Aoi was horrified and Miyuki couldn't muster a single word. She wasn't even Christian, but she thought, "God have Mercy on them."

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