It was the man on Bobby's right that first saw Miller. He had immediately dropped and clicked his throat mic three times as a signal he'd made contact. He had the good fortune to be behind a fallen tree when he dropped to one knee. That would provide him some form of cover.

They had gotten lucky, Miller hadn't spotted him right off. As soon they heard the radio clicks, Bobby and his other man began moving to their right. It would take less than a minute for Bobby to cover the distance. Bobby went into a crouched stance as he moved as quickly and quietly as he could. Fortunatley for Miller, that was hard to do on a forest floor covered with sticks and other debris.

Miller hadn't seen Bobby's man at first but his sixth sense told him something wasn't right. He had dropped like a sack of potatoes and crawled a yard or so to a large stump that afforded some cover. In turn Webb and Dink did the same.

Miller's senses were going into overdrive as he strained to hear or see something that would indicate where the threat came from. He only cautiously peeked around the stump by a few degrees so he couldn't see Bobby's man even if he hand been standing up. As the seconds ticked by, and the sweat began to pour Miller forced himself to breath steady.

It didn't take long to hear Bobby moving through the woods. Another second or two passed before Miller could make out a shape moving behind the trees. Dink had crawled to within 10 yards of Miller and to his right to provide some sort of covering fire if it became needed. Webb was trying to do the same on the left but stayed back a bit to try to use the height to some advantage.

"Listen Miller!" called out Bobby as he continued to move towards them. "Surrender right now and we'll take you back to town safe and sound. But you have about five seconds to do it". Bobby counted to three in his mind and then dove in a small ditch that afforded him cover.

The seconds clicked by in what seemed to be an hour. Miller was surprised at how many birds and other animals he could suddenly hear frolicking in the woods, unaware about what was about to happen. He had no intentions of surrendering although he would like to avoid a fight that could get one of his friends hurt.

Before Miller could tighten his hand on the grip of his AR-15 and slip the safety to "fire" the first shots from Bobbie's rifle impacted about 10 yards to his right. Dirt and twigs kicked up as the rounds thumped into the dirt. The contractors did not use subsonic ammunition in the suppressed rifles so Miller could clearly hear the crack of the bullet as it broke the sound barrier. This gave him no indication where the fire was coming from but he already had a general idea.

A hail of bullets from Bobby and the man on his right impacted all around the general area where Miller was hunkered behind the stump. Dirt flew through the air, some of it landing on Miller. He was able to get a little bit of angle and fire off a 5 round burst towards where he heard the voice call out to him.

Dink joined in the fray as did Webb. Webb had the best vantage point, being higher and 15 yards behind and to the left of Miller. He had a good angle on the man firing beneath the fallen tree almost directly in-front of and 50 yards beyond Miller. Unless the man exposed himself Webb didn't have a clear shot but at least he could send rounds that way to keep his head down.

The man who had been to Bobby's left, Jones, when this started finally joined the fray. He had worked his way several yards further up the hill than Bobby but hadn't gotten close enough before he decided to drop and craw the rest of the way. As such he was finally able to put some cover fire in Dink's general area. Bits of wood and bark flew off the trees as rounds impacted the tree trunks.

Miller continued to send short bursts of fire in the direction off to the right of his stump. His mind was racing but very clear. They had to do something or else they'd be pinned down until these guys ran them out of ammo or got in a lucky shot.

"Miller! I doesn't have to end like this" yelled the voice that had called out earlier. "Stop firing, and surrender now".

This only served to get Bobby another burst of shots crashing in around him. He cursed as dirt kicked up into his face.

It was Dink who saved the day. There was a crisp "pop" just before the metallic canister flew through the air, bounced off a tree, and landed about a third of the way to Bobby's men. Another one followed shortly after more to the left of the original one. Within seconds a thick cloud of white smoke poured from the canisters. Webb, seeing what was happening, stopped firing long enough to toss one as far as he could in front of Miller. Again the blanket of smoke began to pour out.

Miller didn't need an invitation, as soon as the smoke grew what he hoped was thick enough to conceal him he scrambled back up the hill. The contractors, quickly realizing what was happening began to fire repeatedly into the smoke cloud while Dink and Webb poured down covering fire.

As the rounds fell in between himself and Bobby, the man to Bobby's left decided to charge into the smoke. It was a strange decision, but sometimes in the heat of the moment people do strange things. It was Dink, who had already retreated 10 yards further up the hill who saw him first. The man had just started to emerge though the smoke. Dink quickly brought his AR-15 to bear and coolly placed a 5 round burst of M855 rounds into the man's chest. The man yelled out as he crashed to the ground and rolled into a heap.

Miller had retreated far enough that he lobbed a couple more smoke grenades into the area. As the thick haze intensified all three of the men were able to continue pulling back until they had broken contact. At this point they made tracks, packs and all, as fast as they could back past the cabin. They put as much distance as they could between them and the other men. As the crack of rifle fire receded into the distance they turned sharply south and followed a small ridge-line that afforded them some cover. Within 10 minutes they were gone.

Back at the scene of the firefight, Bobby's man writhed on the ground from the 3 rounds that had impacted his chest. As soon as he heard Jones yell out he knew what had happened. He instructed the man on his right, the one behind the fallen tree that had first seen Miller, to hold fast. There was no sense charging after them after already sustaining a casualty.

As it became clear their adversaries had eluded them they approached Jones. The other man tried to offer him assistance but it was clear the man was severally injured. Bobby didn't hesitate to inspect the man and instead called base.

"Base, Viper-1, over". He thought briefly about how silly these code names were.

"Go ahead Viper-1". Came the digitized voice.

"Base, made contact with the subject. Need the chopper to return to our area with the infrared unit. Men have broken contact and are heading westerly." Bobby gave them the grid coordinates of his position and awaited confirmation that the chopper would come in to help the search.

"Negative Viper-1. Bird is down with mechanical issues. It returned to the airport One Five ago. Suggest holding out until ground support arrives. Estimated two zero minutes out from your position. Over".

"Goddammit!" yelled Bobby as he kicked a tree. The scream startled the man attending to Jones. As much as he wanted to give chase, he knew what a bad idea it was and by the time the support group arrived it would be to late.

"Bobby, Jones is hurt bad. We have to do something." the man implored his boss. His hands were covered in Jone's blood from his efforts to apply compression bandages to the wound.

Bobby walked over, and without hesitation placed a round directly in Jones's head. The man assisting him recoiled but was still covered in blood and brains.

"There" said Bobby. "I just did something. Fucker cost me catching Miller anyway." With that he turned and starting walking back down the hill through the fading cloud of smoke.

His man sat in stunned silence for a minute before placing a small towel over what was left of Jones's head and beginning the same trek himself.