The night was still, clouds scattered, the moon hung low, resembled a giant lantern among the ocean of little glittering stars. The moist from the shower earlier today made the canopy of the forest glisten as the moonlight relentlessly tried to penetrate the thick canopy. A soft thunderous noise was heard from afar. It soon grew louder as the twin-rotor Chinook approached from south.

The Chinook had effectively destroyed the serenity of the night. It was flying precariously low to avoid ground-based radar detection. The pilot and co-pilot both donned night-vision goggles as its own radar was switched off—all lights, including the blinking aircraft warning lights at the exterior were also switched off—again, to avoid detection. Flying just 3 meters above the trees, the glistening treetops looked like spots of white against a ghostly green and black background through the NVGs.

"ETA to ‘Heaven’, oh four zero seconds, get ready to execute Operation Angel," the pilot announced.

The pilot and co-pilot would now have to look out for the signal from their "mortal". Agent Isman had been hiding in the woods until he heard the unmistakable sound of a copter. He waited until he could see the shape of the Chinook against the moonlight. Singapore was the only country in ASEAN to have an operational squadron of Chinooks and, therefore, no doubt this approaching copter must be "angel". My angel with two halos he thought as he fished out his pocket light to signal to the Chink.

"Mortal located," the pilot announced. "Executing Operation Angel."

"Roger that, Cap’tn!" Staff Sergeant Li answered as he prepared to open the ramp. The rest of the SOF soldiers also got ready and turned toward the ramp. Even though this was a "rescue mission", these armed soldiers were necessary because they were on foreign soil.

The Chink started to descend toward the clearing as its rear ramp slowly opened. The Chink hovered steadily just above the grassland as the tall blades rustled and licked the under belly of the Chink. The soldiers were quick, three of them leaped off the ramp while the remaining two stayed at the ramp aiming their SAR21 at Isman. The three soldiers on the ground carefully scanned the surrounding with their NVGs before giving an all-clear signal. One of them then proceeded to search Isman for concealed weapons. As soon as Isman’s identity was confirmed, the soldier searching him quickly escorted him into the chink. Upon seeing their "mortal" safely onboard, the soldiers hurried back into the Chink. Once everyone was onboard, the Chink began to rise and retract its ramp. The Chink then tilted forward and began its 15 minutes journey back to SBAB the same way it had came—undetected.

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