At 0630, soldiers readied themselves for the long day ahead. Young men and women cramped inside of troop transport vehicles as they made their way to Qalat. The base was truly alive. A hundred marching boots and dozens of roaring engines for the promise of action.

  Ben noticed a lot were hesitant, mostly the fresh recruits who were not used to combat and the possibility of death. To Ben, this parade was just a routine chest pounding to get everyone ready. Nothing was unique, not when he had to do all of that a dozen times over. The only different thing about the whole thing was he won’t join them. He instead would have to carry his pack and rifle somewhere else to conduct a mission no one else knew about.

  Apache was a forward operating base in the Zabul province of Afghanistan. It was also Ben’s least favourite out of all of them. Hot, covered in sand, and had a strange smell to it that no other bases in the country had. Every temporary building and fortification looked similar, but at the same time different from damage accumulated from mortar fire. If there was a way he could describe the place. It would be utter disappointment. Ben believed he would likely die on base by catching some sort of disease than fighting outside of it.

  A bald, pale man noticed Ben as he approached him. He tapped one of the soldiers’ shoulders to signal them that he would introduce their new Sergeant to the squad while they loaded up their two Humvees. He reached out for Ben’s hand to shake it. ‘You must be Sergeant Earl? Names Corporal Dicklish, but please call me Curly.’

  Ben smiled as he shook his hand. While it would be out of the ordinary for Ben to call people by their nicknames. He understood why he wouldn’t be called by his proper surname. ‘Please to meet you, Corporal. So, is everyone ready for the mission?’

  ‘Ready as they can be.’ Curly pointed to the squad behind him, using his thumb. ‘I suppose you know some of them, or do you need introductions to get settled in?’

  Ben pulled up his sleeve to check his watch. A bit late, best if we get ready to move out rather than stay here any longer. He thought to himself. ‘Do they know I am in charge of this operation?’

  ‘They sure do.’

  ‘Then we should be fine. I don’t think it is necessary for me to say hello when we have a job to do.’ Ben replied as he made his way to the second Humvee to help load his pack in.

  Curly followed behind with a grin. He leaned against the Humvee to engage with a bit of a talk with the new Sergeant. Ben, however, knew it was a lot more than any typical small talk. ‘Be honest with me Sergeant. What do you think of the mission?’

  ‘Not much,’ he casually replied. ‘Patrol the area, interview the locals, investigate who is conducting the ambushes, and take them out. Nothing much to add, all things considered.’

  Stolen novel; please report.

  ‘I think finding a ghost isn’t easy.’ Curly lightly joked. ‘Also, no need to be discreet. Everyone in earshot had read the same file. Well… I hope most of the guys here can read.’

  Some soldiers in the squad mocked Curly for that comment alone. Others retorted that Curly couldn’t even finish even spell his own name. All harmless banter. Yet from Ben’s observation of the slight verbal jabs. He could tell that the squad had some sort of history together at how quick the responses were from the other squad mates. To him, it gave him a sense of calm knowing that they are not just a collection of soldiers randomly picked for the job with little to no rapport.

  Ben was aware that he was an outsider to them, and Curly was doing the army equivalent of welcoming Ben to his tribe. A role Ben happily played along with, if it meant he had a better connection with his troops.

  ‘I suppose not,’ Ben continued the conversation. ‘In all honesty, I think there is a lot more to this mission. But again, you can say that about a lot of missions. It doesn’t take away the fact that the threat we might or might not be dealing with is strange, to put it kindly.’

  Curly smiled, happy at his Sergeant’s openness with the situation. ‘Glad we can agree on something. It is good to know you are not brown nosing the officers and are blindly willing to hunt the bloody Kandahar Giant.’

  ‘I suggest you maintain your professionalism besides making those sorts of jokes, Corporal.’ A bearded man with a thick Kurdish accent loaded his pack into the first Humvee.

  Curly was about to speak up, but Ben tapped him on the shoulder to tell him that he would talk to him instead and it would be best for him to move along. ‘I’m Sergeant Earl. You must be the interpreter I heard joining us.’

  Bahnam glared at Ben’s hand and refused to shake it. ‘I’m Serebergemser Bahnam. I am your interpreter for this mission.’

  Ben retracted his hand. He could tell Bahnam didn’t want to join them for the mission. ‘Pleased to meet you. Since you will be under my command, do you need anything before we conduct the mission?’

  ‘Hurry up so we can get out of here. And maintain discipline within your squad,’ Bahnam sharply replied before he got into the first Humvee, ending their conversation before it even had the chance to start.

  ‘Well, he is charming.’ Curly poked his head out of the Humvee with a chuckle.

  ‘Is everyone ready?’ Ben said to him, agreeing to some extent that discipline still needed to be maintained. Even though he wished Bahnam wasn’t rude about it.

  ‘Ready as they can be.’

  ‘Good,’ Ben hoped in the front seat of the second Humvee. ‘Let’s get out of here and start our patrol. The sooner we find them, the better.’