ARISEN : Raiders, Volume 3 – Dead Men Walking by Michael Stephen Fuchs

Author:Michael Stephen Fuchs [Fuchs, Michael Stephen]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Complete & Total Asskicking Books, London UK
Published: 2021-11-25T06:00:00+00:00

Libbo

Gulf of Oman

One Mile off the Ad Dimaniyat Islands

[One Week Later]

“Holy shit, dudes. Yes! Yes!”

This could have been said by virtually anybody on Team 2, all of whom were muttering and gawking and shaking their heads in wonder, or possibly even joy. The fourteen of them were packed onto a little 30-foot utility craft, one of those used to ferry personnel and equipment around the strike group. Right now, in the goldenrod glow of the setting sun, this boat was chauffeuring them from quarantine on the Rainier back to the JFK, exactly 168.0 hours after the end of their exploding Dubai mission. An identical vessel, holding Team 1, skittered across the sun-sparkled water behind them.

Normally, getting out of quarantine and going home would be all the Marines could think about.

But today, both vessels were listing to port as the Marines piled onto that side to get a look at what lay to the south of the anchored strike group. And what it was looked like a fantasy tropical island from a reality television show. Even from a mile away, they could see the graceful crescent island cove, filled with translucent pale-blue water, a white sand beach behind that with a few colorful sea kayaks strewn around, and then a scattering of thatched-roof cabanas, finally ending with vegetation-dotted dunes rising up behind.

They knew they weren’t here for a scavenging mission.

“Listen up,” the LT shouted over the wind and engine noise. “Try not to kick my ass for not telling you before now.” He’d gotten briefed by Commander Drake via telephone in quarantine, days earlier. “I wanted this to be a surprise – and to see your faces when you saw it.” He was not disappointed.

“Where the hell are we?” Brady asked, for everyone.

The LT smiled, genuinely enjoying this, and wanting to savor the moment. “The XO’s first idea was to take us to the Maldives – an archipelago of about a thousand coral islands in the Indian Ocean, with only about two hundred of them populated, so you can see the appeal. Also, it’s a true white-sand beach paradise. Drake said he’d always wanted to go.”

“Holy shit,” someone said. “We’re in the Maldives?”

“Fuck no,” said Fick, who had also been in on the secret. “That would have been a two-thousand-mile journey, requiring several metric shit-gallons of fuel. I don’t have to tell any of you crispy devil dogs the price we just paid to top up on fuel. And we don’t want to do that shit again soon.”

“Goddammit, Master Guns,” Brady said. “Where are we?”

The LT picked back up. “Next best thing – the Ad Dimaniyat Islands, a protected nature reserve off the coast of Oman. Much closer. Nearly as nice. It’s got several types of coral reef, plus a lot of wildlife. And nine islands totaling about 250 acres.”

“We gonna have to clear all that?” Graybeard asked.

“That’s the other best part – it was really protected.

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