North of Kirkuk, desert.
Local ti: 04:30-04:55.
Five MRZR all-terrain vehicles moved like ghosts scraping the ground, racing across the desert filled with rocks and dry valleys.
The engines, specially tuned, had their low-frequency roar largely swallowed by the terrain and wind noise. They used low-noise sand tires, but the crunching of rocks was still unavoidable.
The drivers relied entirely on the micro-light vision provided by night vision devices and pre-input GPS waypoint navigation, with all vehicle lights off.
Song Heping sat in the passenger seat of the leading vehicle, his body rising and falling with the violent bumps.
In the night vision view, the world appeared in varying shades of green.
The terrain ahead began to rise, and the blurred silhouette of hills in the distance gradually beca clear.
Inside the vehicle radio, there was only occasional faint electrical static.
The assault team mbers curled up in the cramped space, cradling their weapons to avoid making noise.
When it was three kiloters from the designated infiltration point, Song Heping raised his fist, signaling "stop."
The convoy slowly decelerated, finally stopping in the shadowed side of a rocky hill, engines off.
Absolute silence instantly enveloped them, with only the desert night wind howling through the rocky crevices and the chirping of unknown insects.
"Final check, five minutes."
Song Heping softly ordered over the individual radio, his voice transmitted clearly to each ear via the bone conduction microphone.
"Sniper team, support team, establish initial positions. Assault team, follow ."
The team mbers silently slid off the vehicles, quickly spreading out in a periter around them for security.
The four-person sniper team, led by Jiang Feng, with heavy firearms and observation equipnt, crouched and ran to a higher rocky platform on the right.
From there, the view was wide open, overlooking the entrance on the west side of the hilly area about two kiloters away. Though the cliff top's exact position was concealed by angles, they could monitor the canyon floor and potential enemy sentries or vehicles on the periter.
The six-mber support team, under Abu You's command, began constructing a simple defensive position between two large rocks, setting up two Mk 48 machine guns, muzzles pointed at the convoy's route and the opposite slope on the west side of the canyon, where enemy activity might appear.
They also deployed vibration sensors and infrared alert devices, creating an alarm line.
anwhile, Song Heping led twenty assault team mbers, beginning a foot maneuver to the final climbing starting point.
They ford into a loose column while maintaining visual contact, advancing along the ridge's edge, utilizing every shadow and rock for cover.
Beneath their feet was loose gravel and sand, requiring deliberate control of the pressure and angle of each step to minimize noise.
Under night vision, the rock face ahead they needed to climb beca increasingly clear.
It was a nearly vertical listone cliff, about forty ters high, heavily weathered, full of cracks and protruding rock edges, appearing with rough textures in the green view.
When they were a hundred ters from the base of the rock face, Song Heping raised his fist again, the team froze, crouching behind several large stones.
He raised a thermographic monocular, carefully scanning the upper edge and sides of the rock face.
The screen showed a world of black, white, and gray, with temperature differences outlining the contours.
The rock face itself was a cold dark gray. At the edge above, there were a few very faint, almost blending with the environnt, light gray spots, motionless.
"At two o'clock direction, about two ters below the cliff edge, there is a heat source. One, possibly a lurking sentry."
Song Heping's voice was pressed extrely low, speaking on the radio channel.
"At eleven o'clock direction, in the inward concave part of the cliff top, there is also a static heat source. Other locations are clear."
Indeed, there were sentries.
The Kurd Special Forces team sent by Barzani wasn't foolish. Even on the west side, theoretically disadvantageous for an attack, they still placed hidden sentries.
The position was well-chosen, hidden below the cliff-top ridgeline, invisible from the canyon's east side but able to monitor a large approach area on the west.
"Sniper team, 'Ghost One' calling. West side edge of the cliff, coordinate points Alpha-7 and Bravo-3, suspected lurking sentries. Can you observe and lock on?"
Song Heping called Jiang Feng.
A few seconds later, Jiang Feng's voice ca, also faint:
"Confird observation. Alpha-7 target is in the shadow below the rock ledge, Bravo-3 behind a rock crevice. Both are in a sitting or leaning posture, minimal movent. I can't obtain a direct firing angle from my position; they are hiding on the reverse slope. You need to approach and handle them."
"Copy."
Song Heping turned to the assault team mbers behind him, using hand signals: two sentries detected, need silent elimination.
He pointed at two team mbers codenad "Iron Wolf" and "Shadow."
The two had demonstrated exceptional close combat and field tracking abilities during selection.
"Razor" was a forr Russia Signal Flag Special Forces mber, while "Shadow" ca from Colombia's forr special operations team, skilled in jungle and mountain covert actions.
"You two, co with first. 'Iron Wolf' on the left, 'Shadow' on the right. The rest, hold position, stay alert. Wait for our signal."
Song Heping drew a Strider combat knife from the scabbard on his thigh, the blade matte-finished to avoid reflection.
He slung the HK416 over his back, inspected the Glock 19 pistol with a silencer mounted on his chest, ensuring a quick draw.
The three moved like lizards toward the darkest shadows at the base of the rock face.
They selected a section with nurous cracks and shrub remnant roots as the starting point for their climb.
Climbing itself is a basic skill for Special Forces, but it required full load and complete stealth.
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