The seven-men section from Charlie platoon of Team Delta turned on their Integrated NVGs as they moved toward the woods for cover. The men, sporting No.4 army fatigues and matching camo on their faces were armed with the SAR-21S which had a built-in laser aiming device, night shoot scope and an integrated silencer. Slightly different from the original SAR-21, the SAR-21S was specifically designed for the Special Operation Force. The men were also armed with stun-grenades and smoke-sticks—lighter and far more efficient than the old smoke-grenade. There was a combat-medic and signaller amongst them and were as equally potent as the rest. The signaller, 2^nd Sergeant Kevin Chee, carried with him the lightweight LOSCom Set. Upon completion of their mission, 2^nd Seg Chee would contact the Board via the Low-Orbit Satellite Com Set and wait for their angel with two halos—the same Chinnok which sent them here. Their mission objective was to capture the subject—Jason Tan—preferably without use of force. The men moved in One-up formation slowly through the dense tropical forest. They were to make their way closer to the road and wait for arrival of vehicles.

Team Delta ‘C’ took up their position along the dirt track leading from the main road, each man was about 50m apart and was well concealed. Two glowing white spots slowly appeared in the soldiers’ black and green vision.

"Lead to Charlie two-seven, subject approaching, mini-4WD, over," the front-scout stationed closest to the road reported.

"Charlie two-seven roger, we have visual," Maj Lim responded.

The mini-4WD drove off the main road onto the dirt track leading into the forest and stopped about 200m in. The dirt track was narrow with dense bushes on either side, and beyond the bushes, a whole lot of nothing—just trees, big trees densely packed together with thick undergrowth. Wonder if there are tigers inside? Damn place, road not wide enough to even make a U-turn later, Mohammed Noor thought as he turned off the headlights as he was worried that the bright lights would attract wild animals. Noor was the double agent who matchmade this transaction. He was a SID agent who had been recruited by ISD and had since sold intel to the both sides. Noor saw a pair of bright lights bumping on the dirt track coming from behind. He quickly turned on a torchlight and wave franticly at the approaching vehicle. Jason turned off his headlights and slowed his approach to the mini-4WD.

Noor cupped his hand over his torch to cover the light and release successively for three times to identify himself. Upon seeing the signal, Jason got off his car and Noor followed suit, with a briefcase. Both were ready for the transaction.

"Subject in visual. Go! Go! Go!" Maj Lim ordered. Immediately, three stun-grenades were tossed onto the ground near Noor and Jason. Bang! The three stun-grenades almost exploded at the same time. The stun-grenades were loud and bright, designed to immobilize anyone in a 5m radius for 8-10 seconds. The 8-10 seconds were more than enough for Team Delta ‘C’ to come out of their concealed positions aiming their weapons at them, the men at the both ends flanked to form a circle surrounding Noor and Jason.

"Freeze!"

Neither Noor nor Jason could see the man who shouted, their vision were still suffering from the effect of the stun-grenades. Noor sensed danger and stupidly started to reached for his pistol.

"Target is armed!" one soldier shouted.

Click! The shot sounded as loud as a tap on a keyboard. Noor was shot and collapsed onto the molten-like mud screaming in pain. The 5.56mm hollow-point round hit Noor’s right knee and lodged itself inside. Being hollow-point, the projectile would not have the tendency to exit the body, thus leaving behind evidences.

"Nobody moves and no one will get hurt!"

Jason started to regain his vision and through his blurry vision he saw shapes of men all around him. Suddenly, he was being pushed against something hard—his car—and was body-searched then got his hands handcuffed behind his back by plastic fastener. He did not resist, not with a blurry vision, and he knew jolly-well that there were at least several rifles aiming at him and very much willing to pull the trigger. Before he could try to see his attackers, he was blindfolded and being led by two, he thought, persons into the forest. Noor was gagged in the mouth to soften his cries. He, too, was handcuffed and blindfolded but he had to be carried by one of the soldiers through the forest. The whole operation ended in less than 5 minutes.

As soon as they reached the fringe of the clearing, 2^nd Seg Chee took out a 20cm long, 1-inch thick rod and opened it up like a mini umbrella and aimed it towards the sky then attached it to the LOSCom set. The medic was trying to stop Noor’s bleeding and had given him a shot of morphine to calm him down a little. Jason was in a kneeing position watched over by two soldiers. The rest of the team spread themselves out to play sentry.

"Delta3 to Castle, Delta3 to Castle, mission accomplished, zero one casualty, waiting for Angel, over," 2^nd Seg Chee spoke into the handset. He had to wait for a few seconds as his words traveled 600km into the sky to one of the Low-Orbit satellites that would in turn reflect them back to the Board’s satellite receiver.

"Well done Delta3! Angel on its way, ETA zero five minutes, over."

About five minutes later, they could hear the thumping sound of the approaching Chinook. As usual, the Chink was flying low and it descended quickly upon seeing the group. Noor was carried in on a stretcher followed by Jason. As soon as the last man got onboard, the Chink lifted off and closed its ramp.

-END-