Chapter Text
Months have passed since that one botched mission where TF141 has tried to take down the criminal organisation ‘Al-Haqiqa’. Ever since then the organisation went off the radar, there were no signs of them, nothing but complete and utter silence. They are a criminal and terrorist organisation based in Urzikstan and have been classified as highly dangerous. Their leader, Rashid Zayn Qamar, is known for executing hostages on camera and spreading Al-Haqiqa’s ideology, his doing being broadcasted on TV every single time. But even those cruelties came to a stop ever since the task force botched the mission. It is as if the organisation simply stopped existing.
Ghost, Lieutenant of the task force, is sitting in his office with the files concerning the organisation spread across his desk. He’s reading through the files over and over and over again. But it’s no use, additional intel won’t just magically appear on his desk. The Lieutenant groans and leans back in his seat, staring at the wall for a while. The only sound breaking the silence being the clock hanging in his office.
Ghost has never felt this way before, for the first time in a long time in his life he feels stuck. Everyone knows that Ghost is damn good at what he’s doing, he’s a bloody menace. But not this time, not with this criminal organisation. TF141 didn’t make any progress as of right now. Ghost exhales deeply and collects the files, putting them neatly into the folder again. It’s no use. He thinks to himself again. After that he puts the folder into the drawer, locking it with a key afterwards.
Suddenly, there's a knock on the other side of the door. Ghost’s head shoots up as he stares at the door for a few moments. It better be important. He thinks to himself, seemingly annoyed to be interrupted while he’s working.
“Come in,” he says after a while, his voice as rough as sandpaper, a clear show of his lack of sleep in the past few months. Soon after the door opens, revealing Sergeant Garrick or ‘Gaz’. The Sergeant inclines his head as a short greeting.
“Ghost, the Captain wants to talk to the squad. It’s of high importance,” Gaz says with a grim expression.
“Does it have to do with Al-Haqiqa?” Ghost asks in return, his eyes betraying the slightest hint of hopefulness. Gaz shakes his head a little and shrugs before answering: “I don’t know, Price didn’t tell me what the meeting will be about”. Did we finally make progress? Did Price find something?
And with that, soon after the task force meets up at Price’s office. Sergeant Soap, Sergeant Gaz and Lieutenant Ghost gathered around the Captain’s desk. The men’s expressions betray their anticipation and curiosity, they have been after that damned organisation for months after all. After a brief moment of silence Soap was the first one to speak up.
“So Cap? What’s all this about?” he asks, his gaze fixed on Price as he and all the others watch him with anticipation. Price looks into the round with an unreadable expression, still sitting in his chair. A moment of silence passes until the Captain finally says something.
“We have new intel on Al-Haqiqa,” he says in a serious tone, his expression grim. Ghost tenses as he hears the news, his gaze flickering to Price. New intel? He thinks to himself. Ghost can’t help himself and steps forward while crossing his arms in front of his chest. They finally made some progress, may it be ever so small he’s grateful for that. But before Ghost could ask any further questions Price interrupts him.
“I’ll explain in a second. Before I do that I need to ask you to sit down and be quiet until I’m finished. Understood?” Price orders in a harsh tone. He’s visibly tense and one can see that he’s not in the mood for any of them disobeying his orders. A moment of silence passes, a silent agreement to Price’s order. Everyone has a serious expression on their faces as they wait with anticipation for their Captain to proceed. Price looks at each and every of his men before nodding contentedly.
“All right boys. As I said, we do have some new intel on Al-Haqiqa. The information came in anonymously a few weeks ago. I couldn’t tell you earlier ‘cause of the risk of misleading or fraudulent information. However, we ran the intel through several checks and it seems like it’s legit and trustworthy. We need to proceed with caution though.” Price briefly explains where the intel even came from. After a short pause he proceeds while leaning back in his seat.
“The anonymous tip said that a small base has been spotted at the border between Urzikstan and Georgia. It’s well hidden and no suspicious behaviour has been seen until recently. Apparently, our anonymous tipper recently saw how two men in keffiyehs and rifles entered a cabin by the border. The descriptions fit ‘Al-H’ and we sent a special squad to confirm the credibility of the intel. Seems like the information was indeed legitimate, our men spotted suspicious looking men going in and out of the cabin. Few were armed but every single one wore a keffiyeh, Al-H’s signature way of staying unrecognisable.” He says in a serious tone but it’s evident that even he is relieved to finally have some sort of trail to Al-Haqiqa.
Another moment of silence fills the room, those present processing the information Price just provided them with. Ghost narrows his eyes ever so slightly while thinking for a while. He has expected many things but not this. This is… perfect. He never thought that they’d come across a base of all things. It seems as if today is the task force’s lucky day. Maybe this time they will manage to finally detain Qamar and stop Al-Haqiqa once and for all. However, they need to proceed with caution this time, they can’t allow themselves to botch yet another mission, risking that the organisation will go off the radar once again.
Right in that moment Price speaks up again, as if he just read Ghost’s mind: “I want to remind you of the botched mission, lads. We cannot afford to mess this one up, too. Who knows, maybe we’ll lose them completely when we do manage to. In the next few months we’ll have to come up with an elaborate and smart game plan. We underestimated Al-H once and we sure as hell won’t let that happen a second time. Understood?”
The three men nod their heads in agreement. Ghost reluctantly uncrosses his arms and looks at Price out of narrowed eyes. This seems a little too easy for his liking. Months have passed without a single trace of Al-Haqiqa’s whereabouts or plans and now suddenly an anonymous tip comes in.
“What if it’s a trap?” Ghost finally voices his concern. The whole room falls into silence, everyone’s gazes snap to him after he spoke out what everyone else was thinking in silence. Price’s gaze hardens and nods his head a little. It’s a valid concern after all. What if that anonymous tipper belonged to Al-Haqiqa and provided them with intel to lure them into a trap. Now everyone’s gaze returns to Price, waiting for his response to Ghost’s concern. Price exhales deeply and stands up from his seat, walking around his desk and coming to a stop in front of his squad.
“I understand your concern, I really do. Hell, even I am not sure about all this. It’s a mess. It’s a big, bloody mess, lads. But it’s everything we have at the moment and we need to take the risk of this being a trap. We have been after those bloody bastards for too long.” Price says in a firm tone, his eyes showing nothing but complete and utter resolve. “We will include a separate plan in case it is a trap into our game plan. But we need to check out the cabin one way or the other.”
Ghost seems to still have his doubts about this but he has to begrudgingly agree. This whole thing indeed is a bloody mess and things are very uncertain. But they cannot wait any longer, Al-Haqiqa is classified as highly dangerous. They need to take them out as soon as possible, that‘s what everyone expects from them. They will have to check out the cabin with lots of preparations. Ghost huffs quietly and nods his head after a while, muttering a small “All right” underneath his breath.
The Captain nods as well and visibly eases up a little. “All right you lot. You‘re dismissed. Report back to me at the end of the week, same time in my office.” He says in a gruff tone while gesturing with his hand for them to leave his office. And with that, the three men leave his office, dead set on creating a plan to take down Al-Haqiqa.
— — —
Around two months have passed and the squad has been working diligently to create a game plan for infiltrating the base without drawing too much attention and collecting as much information as possible. Price also has been and still is in contact with Farah in Urzikstan who‘s currently keeping an eye out for further suspicious activity on behalf of Price. With her people stationed nearby the alleged base the task force is regularly provided with status reports.
The Captain is currently going through some reports by Farah‘s people while sipping his coffee. His team and him are set to take action in the following week. The uncertainty is still present but it has become better now with Farah‘s help on site. Price exhales deeply and stands up from his seat, walking towards the door with the intention to smoke a cigarette. Once outside Price lights the cigarette he already had between his lips. He takes a drag, deeply inhaling the smoke and letting the nicotine hit him. The sky is grey and it’s slightly windy, typical for Great Britain. Price tilts his head upwards, staring into the overcast sky. He can feel it again, the adrenaline coursing through his veins like every time before a mission. As he slowly exhales the smoke he feels how his heart rate increases and his hands start shaking a little. Price has been doing this job since ages but he still can’t get used to this overwhelming mixed feeling of excitement and dread. But this time is different, this isn’t just any mission. They finally have a chance to take down Al-Haqiqa after months. This pressure is a different kind of pressure, they have to be in their best shape and form when confronting the organisation.
Price snaps out of his thoughts and finishes his cigarette quickly before flicking the butt to the ground and stomping on it to extinguish the remaining ember. There’s no time to dilly-dally, not when the mission is scheduled to start next week. Another long sigh escapes his lips before he turns around and walks back into the building. Focus John, focus. He thinks to himself while striding back to his office on base.
— — —
The day of the mission came faster than anticipated, for everyone in the squad. The men are currently stationed in close proximity to the small village of the suspicious cabin, approximately 300 metres away. Night has fallen and it’s completely dark, barely to no street lamps or torches to light up the area. Price signals his men to put on the night vision with a hand gesture before slowly approaching the village. Said village is situated in a more rural area surrounded by some high grass and bushes. The squad uses the vegetation to their favour, using it to hide better. Price guides the men closer to the village and as they’re merely 100 metres away from the targeted cabin he halts and signals his men to stop as well.
This is an odd situation indeed. If that cabin is truly a base of Al-Haqiqa they’re protecting it very poorly. There are no vehicles or soldiers patrolling. The village almost seems deserted in a way, if there weren’t the few villagers who rush through the streets and to their homes. Price narrows his eyes a little and turns to his men before gesturing for them to split up and look around for possible threats. Ghost who has been silently observing their surroundings nods his head along with the other men and goes into a different direction. He has a bad feeling about this but decides to remain silent and keep his thoughts to himself.
Meanwhile, Price also stealthily walks into another direction while staying vigilant about his surroundings. Something isn’t right, he can feel it. The villagers are staying in their houses, some peek out of their windows and seem… scared. That only means one thing; Al-Haqiqa must be here. The Captain narrows his eyes but decides to push through, despite the increasing feeling of dread. He can feel how his body goes rigid and his hands start sweating the further he walks into the village. With an almost silent, deep exhale he proceeds to walk into the village, his footsteps light and barely imperceptible. Price reaches with his hand to his comm while slowly striding further.
“Lads, status report.” He quietly murmurs into the radio. Soap is the first one to respond, his voice crackling through Price‘s comm. “Nothing, Cap.” He briefly reports back. “Same here.” Gaz replies shortly after. “All clear.” Ghost mutters lastly. Price pauses for a second before once again talking into the radio. “All right, advance towards the cabin. We will go in together. Over.” he commands in a gruff tone before turning off his comm again. He can’t deny that he feels relieved, even though the situation seemed suspicious at first. At least the area is clear and the chances that they encounter threats is lower than expected.
Ghost also turns off his comm and adjusts his grip on his rifle before proceeding to approach the targeted cabin. He stealthily crouches through the high grass, using his surroundings as his cover. Despite the area being clear he can‘t shake the bad feeling in his gut, can’t shake the feeling of being watched. Not long after he’s that close to the cabin that he can see it. “Target in sight.” He mutters into his radio. After a few seconds Soap’s voice comes through. “Gaz and I are close, too.” The three men await Price’s confirmation and further instructions. However, there’s nothing but complete and utter silence.
Soap speaks up again, his voice crackling through the radio. “Cap, do you copy?” But again, they’re met with silence. Ghost looks around and spots Gaz and Soap on the other side right beside the cabin. He looks further around but there’s no sign of Price. The lieutenant quietly curses under his breath before speaking into the comm himself. “Price, where the fuck are you? Do you copy?” He asks with a hint of urgency in his voice.
Meanwhile, Price has his hands in the air, listening to the soft click of a handgun locking behind him. Just when he was about to approach the cabin, someone managed to sneak behind him. And before he could do anything he felt the barrel of a gun pressing against the back of his head. It’s someone from Al-Haqiqa, it has to be. Who else would be capable of sneaking up to him, a skilled spec ops Captain, with such precision? “Say something and I’ll make sure to blow your brains out.” A female voice threatens him, her accent thick and further confirming his assumption about her being an Al-Haqiqa soldier.