Can I Live Again? - Tyrone Vincent Banks (summer reading list txt) 📗

of my salvation be exalted.
It is God who avenges me,
And subdues the peoples under me;
He delivers me from my enemies.
You also lift me up above those who rise against me;
You have delivered me from the violent man.
Therefore I will give thanks to You, O LORD, among the Gentiles,
And sing praises to Your name.
Great deliverance He gives to His king,
And shows mercy to His anointed,
To David and his descendants forevermore.”

The men responded; “Amen!”

Leonard continued; “Gentlemen, the job that we do is not a pretty one or an easy one. We take lives from men when they least expect it and without warning. I know and you know that there is only one being that has the authority and power to do this and that’s God. God fights our battles for us! He determines if we should dominate the battle field or die on it. What I wish for today is that we can accomplish our objective without taking a human life unless it’s absolutely necessary. I know that this is a tall order but I know that through Christ Jesus, all things are possible!”

Cowen interrupted, “Yes men, all things are possible!” He removed the patch from his eye and opened it in spite of the swelling and bruising. “I believe now more than ever, today we shall be victorious! OO-RAH!”

The men shouted; “OO-RAH!!”

Over the intercom the pilot shouted; “okay Marines, get some!!”

The men rappelled out of the black hawk and into a wooded area. Their faces obscured by earth tone grease paints and their eyes hard and focused. They rolled across the ground in their ghillie suits to pick up leaves and branches from the area. Leonard ascended up a steep hill and the ten men lay across the ridge overlooking a clearing. The village was in the distance patrolled by a small group of men carrying AK-47’s and M16’s. From their current vantage point they could have dropped the entire group of men to avoid any resistance, but Leonard didn’t give the signal. The men lay prone until the sun went down and descended into the village entering at every angle to gather intelligence. They returned to the ridge moments later to discuss their findings.

Cowen reported; “the houses are occupied mostly by women and children.”

“I counted ten armed men to the east of the village carrying 9 AK-47’s and one Tabuk”; added Bustamonte.

Leonard reported; “I found a large weapons cache in a cargo truck directly across from the tunnel. We’ll take care of that before we leave.”

“Sir?”

“Yes Brown.”

“You might want to check out that cluster of houses in the northwest corner of the village. It seems to be an infirmary of sorts.”

“Excellent! Anything else?”

“Well Sir, I haven’t brushed up on my Arabic lately but I heard someone praying in Arabic with a strong Spanish-American accent in one of those houses!”

Leonard’s first instinct was to charge in and see if Manuela was there. He had to restrain every fiber of his being but the Holy Spirit within him caused him to stand still and formulate a plan. He was silent for a minute and then he began to map out a plan, a very ambitious and impossible plan, but a good plan nonetheless.

“We will wait until about zero three hundred hours and go back into the village. You are to disassemble every weapon that you find rather it be in someone’s hands or lying on the ground. You are not to be detected! After a day in the hot desert heat the guards will fall asleep and let their guards down. If you are detected, use non-lethal force to restrain and silence any individual who may jeopardize this plan! Use lethal force, preferably hand-to-hand combat should any problems arise that need to be handled in that manner. Understood!”

“Aye Aye Sir!”

The team waited patiently until Leonard looked at his watch and gave the signal. The team descended quietly into the village and busied themselves at the task at hand. Under the cover of the night the marines worked as if it were day. Leonard worked his way across the village and arrived at the house in the northwest corner. He moved towards the back of the house and peered into a small window. He noticed someone lying on a cot with a bandaged hand reading a small book.

Leonard pulled himself up and into the window, landing quietly on the floor. He crawled towards the cot and rolled underneath it. The person continued to read and he had to push past the adrenaline rushing through his body and focus on the voice. It was a female voice and she continued to read. Leonard looked up both sides of the bed until he was able to ascertain her blind spot. He reached up blindly and covered her mouth and stood quickly.

There she was.

Leonard felt faint, she was…alive. Manuela was alive and so was Leonard. For the first time in weeks, he was alive. He looked down at her and kissed her. He took her hand that was wrapped in a large bandage and kissed it. At that moment, the adrenaline and the power that coursed through his body multiplied.

She embraced him and said; “Honey, I’m so sorry! I had to help that little boy…”

Leonard was silent. He placed his finger to his mouth and retrieved one of Manuela’s uniforms from his back pack. She dressed quickly and Leonard flung his rifle onto his shoulder.

“It’s okay honey! There’s so much that I want to tell you and ask you…but we have to get out of here.”

“How are we going to do that? We can’t just walk out of here undetected. The villagers are harmless, it’s those armed gunmen who terrorize their own people by using this peaceful village as a go between from the desert to the safety of this area. We have to help these people!”

“We will sweetheart! I have a plan!”

Manuela and Leonard rolled out the front door. Manuela was on top of his back as they crawled under his ghillie suit and back towards the base of the ridge. Once there, Cowen helped Manuela reach the safety of the ridge. Leonard and five men infiltrated the village once again and shifted the weapon loaded truck into neutral and pushed it towards the base of the tunnel, placing wooden chocks under the rear tires to prevent it from rolling into the tunnel any further. Leonard placed a live grenade wedged in between two large crates of ammunition and walked away slowly.

One of the guards awakened and pointed the AK-47 at the men and tried to pull the trigger. But, there was no trigger to pull. The men quickly subdued them and ran through the tunnel. A light started to strobe the area and an alarm sounded. Manuela looked on in horror as a large group if men armed with various knives, clubs and machetes gave chase through the tunnel.

Manuela cried out; “Leonard! Ron! That’s almost every man in the village chasing after them!”

Cowen said; “I hope so, it’s all part of the plan!”

Cowen placed the scope of his weapon to his battered eye, selected his target and fired. The bullet traveled a distance that fell just shy of 2000 yards and splintered the wooden chock that was holding the truck into place. The truck moved forward and into the tunnel. Seconds later a violent explosion rocked the tunnel and it collapsed into the earth. Secondary explosions and additional implosions occurred rendering the go between totally useless.

The five remaining men and Manuela left the area and walked for several miles until they arrived on a long dirt road on the other side of the ridge. The men formed a protective circle around Manuela and walked until they came to the smoldering sinkhole that was previously the tunnel. Manuela panicked briefly as the sun rose but there was no sight of her husband or the other men. She stood and surveyed the entire area as they continued slowly down the road. While her back was turned Leonard and the other men slipped out of their hiding places and silently joined the rear of the formation.

Manuela looked back at first not noticing that the five men had miraculously turned into ten. At the second glance she noticed and ran back and jumped into her husband’s arms.

“How dare you scare me like that!”

“Scare you? After the explosion, the severed finger, the letter, the pictures and your obituary…me scare you? I’m not letting you out of my sight again Manuela Thomas!!”

“Hey folks?”

Bustamonte answered; “What’s up Captain?”

“You notice anything different? This is the first time in years that we’re able to walk down this road and not get shot at! For now, problem solved!”

The beating of the blades of a black hawk could be heard in the distance and seconds later the helicopter appeared over the horizon. The team ran to the helicopter and were lifted off to safety.

***
While sitting in the aircraft carrier’s cafeteria , Manuela spoke to Mikal and her parents by phone. Leonard reclined in a chair with his palms behind his head watching her intently. The rest of the men were exhausted and enjoying the variety of foods served on a 21st century aircraft carrier. A Colonel walked in and the men stood at attention and saluted him.

“At ease! I’m here to speak with Captain Manuela Thomas!”

Manuela walked forward and stated; “Yes Sir!”

“As you were Captain, we’re all proud of your conduct during this trying situation. I want to hear from you, your own account of what occurred out there between June 8, 2005 and July 14, 2005.”

“Yes Sir! I was traveling with Kilo Company, fourth platoon on June 8, 2005 when we came under attack from an unknown direction. We returned fire in an attempt to suppress the enemy. Within moments, it was quiet. There was some movement to the west of our position and a single shot was fired in that area. I observed a small child crawling towards the road and ran over to render assistance. He was not seriously injured but he was in shock. I attempted to bring him back to our convoy but we came under attack once again.”

“I carried the child, his name is Abdul, back into the brush. I could hear footsteps approaching from an underground tunnel just beneath a concealed trap door. At that time I could see that the platoon could not hold the position much longer and I made the decision to remove my wedding band so that it wouldn’t be stolen. As the footsteps in