Karl's Last Flight, Part 16

Karl's Last Flight, Part 16
(c)2006, Basil Sands

Soldiers were running toward the planes from other buildings near the strip.

Karl noticed two of them were wearing jumpsuits and pilot helmets. 

"Those must be the MiG31 pilots" Karl shouted.

A voice came out over loud speakers on poles somewhere nearby saying something urgent in Farsi. 
"Uh Oh!" said Kharzai, "they've found the dead guys and they just told the other two pilots that they've gotta run the martyr mission on their own."

The guard at the fuel truck turned to see the van coming.  He noticed movement to his left  and turned to see Manoosh rushing to the last of the 27's.  He shouted something, raised his weapon and fired.  Manoosh lifted bodily off the ground as the bullets tore into his chest.  Liam reacted swiftly by firing two shots from his pistol into the soldier's chest.  The driver ran to get into his truck, but Liam stopped him with two bullets in his back.  Karl saw the driver lean over backwards and fall off the step that led into the cab of his truck.

The soldiers advanced on Liam's position.  He fired a burst of his weapon at them, sending them to the ground for cover.

The two pilots rushed towards their planes.  One got into the MiG 27 at the end of the row nearest the 31's, the one behind which Manoosh had been killed before planting the explosive.

Liam rushed toward the plane but dropped to the ground just as flames burst from the rear as the jet fired up.  The pilot pulled it out onto the runway and started taxiing.  Liam rose to one knee, raised his weapon to fire at the plane only to duck to the ground again as a hail of gunfire came from across the runway.  At least a dozen soldiers opened fire on his exposed position. 

Kharzai rolled down the window of the van, reached out with his MP5 and fired repeatedly at the soldiers, causing them to drop to cover for a moment, giving Liam a chance to find some protection.

The black MiG 27 sped down the runway, lifting swiftly into the sky. In the meantime the other pilot got into his MiG31 was taxiing onto the runway for take off as well.  It looked as if there would be one martyr and one flying cover.

The wind was now howling through the smashed windows of the van as Kharzai sped towards Liam.

"Pull up to other 31!"  shouted Karl.

"What are you going to do?" asked Esther.

"I'm going after the other two jets!"  He exclaimed.

Kharzai drove the van to within a few yards of it.

Karl got out, Esther followed him. 

"I'll cover you!"  she shouted against the wind.

Kharzai turned the van around and went back to his partner Liam who was still pinned down.  The bullets were smacking relentlessly into the side panels of the van.  The tires suddenly exploded with a great popping sound as they were punctured by multiple rounds. 

Pushing the van as far as he could towards Liam's position, Kharzai finally stopped, got out and ran over to Liam.

The two of them drew as much fire as possible away from Karl and Esther to enable Karl to get on the plane.

As they approached the plane a soldier leapt out from the shadows behind the nose of the jet.  He pointed his weapon at Karl's chest but nothing happened.  It was jammed!  He threw the rifle down and tackled Karl, knocking him to the ground. 

Esther tried to get a shot in, but could not.  They were rolling on the ground, each man struggling to stay alive yet to ensure that the other did not.
 
Shots came from the other side of the plane as another soldier tried to get Esther.  She dropped to one knee and returned fire underneath the plane knocking one man to the ground. Another fired back, ripping up gravel and dirt in front of the woman.

"CLICK!"  her weapon resounded, she was out of ammunition!  She dropped her weapon and searched for something to hide behind.

Karl had managed to get the advantage over the soldier.  Straddling his opponent, he grabbed at the man's thick curly hair, pulled his head up and slammed it into the solid surface of the runway.  Two, three, four times, until the soldier quit moving. 

He spun with his weapon, stitching bullets across the torso of the soldier under the airplane without aiming.

Karl leapt up searching for Esther.  She had climbed up the pilot's ladder and was now cowering on the wing beneath the open cockpit.  Her voice carried on the wind as she screamed against the gunfire that kept her pinned to this spot. 

He ran towards the plane.  "Get in!  Get in the back seat!"

The wind gusted, nearly knocking off the ladder as he climbed up to the cockpit.

Esther rose to get in the rear seat, the wind fluttering her robes like flags against her body.  As Karl reached the second step he saw her lift one leg into the cockpit of the jet, abruptly spin around and fall backwards across the opening. 

Karl turned to see three soldiers rushing the side of the jet, muzzle flashes blazing against the hazy dust filled darkness.  With one hand he pointed and fired his MP5, emptying the last magazine into the men, sending them tumbling into the ground. 

Kharzai and Liam rushed forward, both now carrying Kalishnakovs they had taken from fallen soldiers, spraying bullets into the approaching mass of men.

"Get going!" Liam shouted to Karl, barely audible against the raging wind. 

Sand was now stinging Karl's face.  The roar of the wind was constant, drowning out much of the sound of the battle around him.

He threw his empty weapon to the ground, leapt to the wing, lifted Esther and sat her limp body down in the seat.  She was unconscious but breathing. Blood oozed from her right shoulder, and was spattered across her lovely face matted with the dust that was blowing everywhere.  He strapped her in, then deftly jumped into the pilots seat. 

Looking at the controls he couldn't make sense of the Farsi writing on everything.  He assumed that most of the gauges and controls would be the same as those on other jets he flew.  The controls were fairly similar to the F-15's he had flown a few times in the 80's, he hoped it would all came back to him quickly.

Within seconds the engine roared to life.  Flames leapt from the back of the MiG-31's massive twin jets.  Karl lowered the cockpit and advanced out onto the runway.  The sand was blowing wildly across the tarmac in front of him.  He could feel the wind pushing at the plane as he guessed his way through the controls.  He pressed the accelerator forward, shot down the runway and lifted into sky, pressing back into the seat from the force of take off.
 
Liam and Kharzai were trying to keep the attention of the soldiers on the airfield.  Karl could see muzzle flashes and streaks of tracer rounds scraping back and forth through the blowing dust . 

Rising swiftly, Karl saw Liam through the side window as he fired from a kneeling position on the tarmac below, Kharzai lying prone a short distance to his left. What looked in the dim light like dozens of Iranian soldiers lay dead or dying a few meters in front of them, but more kept coming.  The soldiers formed a semi circle advancing against the two agents who poured death from their rifles as fast as they could reload, mowing down their attackers like a mid-western wheat harvest.

The giant Irishman's body shuddered violently, jerking back with successive hits.  He fell to the ground, only to rise again, still firing, until several more impacts silenced his ferocious defense.

Kharzai rolled over to his partner, grabbed something from him and continued firing into the oncoming group of soldiers.

The sand storm was now upon them completely engulfing most of the base in the rolling cloud of dust and debris.  Karl accelerated, thrusting the plane ahead of the storm, which followed close behind.

As he rose into the sky, he glanced back seeing a bright orange and yellow eruption of light from the ground below. Kharzai must have pressed the detonator on the explosives. 

A massive ball of flame moved with the wind, engulfing everything in its path.  Karl felt the jolt of air pressure from the explosion, even as he broke past 5000 feet.

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