above. Initiating the retract mechanism the SEAL's zipped up to the railing with ease as each SEAL found himself on the deck of the tanker. Replacing the hooks back into their chambers each man pulled out his weapon and began making his way to the main entrance of the living quarters. Riley noticed that there was not one man on deck. Perhaps it had been the poor weather that had kept them all inside. Perhaps it was their ignorance in thinking they would not be having company tonight, whatever it was it was about to change, and for the SEAL team, go very wrong.
On the bridge of the tanker the Captain was sitting back in his oversized command seat, allowing his first mate to plot their course once they lifted anchor. Looking out into the blackness the first mate noticed movement below and immediately radioed to the lookouts on the upper deck.
The first mate knew there was a standing order for all men to stay off the deck, so it was no surprise that the armed Turkish militants holding their hostages in the lower depths of the ship's living quarters sprung to life when their lookout had spied the movement of a group of figures preparing to enter. Eleven men in all grabbed their weapons and ran up three levels to the main deck where they waited for the intruders to walk into their trap.
The SEAL's gathered at the entrance of the ship's living quarters. The plan was to enter as quietly as possible. Reconnaissance information had shown that this was the best time to strike, as most everyone would be asleep except for the people on the bridge. Single file they entered into the building and were immediately struck by the change of temperature, the cold, windy chills from the storm brewing outside were left behind and were replaced by a warm, humid environment.
They never knew what hit them.
As the last SEAL in was closing the door gunfire roared in the enclosed space, bullets ricocheted off the walls. One by one the Turk's cut the SEAL's down where they stood. Only Ice Riley and Hawk Hawkins had a chance. Being the first two in, they had been close enough to the stairwell to dive for cover, bullets whizzing past their heads as they dove out of harms way. Hawk screamed at Ice to go and get the hostages, Hawk covered Ice with a hailstorm of gunfire that rained hell in the main entrance of the building. He cut three men down instantly as the others scattered for cover. The other two men took another stairwell that led to the hostages. The race was on.
Ice Riley took the stairs three at a time as he leaped and bounded down towards where he knew the hostages were being held. Holding his sig sauer tightly in his right hand, guiding himself down the railing with his left. He knew he would be met with more militants at any moment and he was ready, strange he thought when he made it to the third floor below where the hostages were and there was nobody to be seen.
Out onto the floor Ice had a decision to make. It was made up of two long corridors that stretched some two hundred feet and the hostages were apparently at the other end of one of the corridors. But which one? Once he began running down one he was target practice for any one of the Turks behind him. Adding to his confusion were the stairwells that came onto the floor half way up each corridor. If one of the Turks were to come out of one those, he would have a split second to decide what to do. Ice decided to take a left, run the twenty yards to the second corridor and run for the room at the end.
In the adjacent corridor the Turks exploded into the hall with their guns blazing, expecting to come upon Ice. When they found an empty hall the men split up, one heading down towards where Ice had come out of the stairwell, the other towards the end of the hall, the same end as Ice!
Ice heard the gunfire in the corridor next to him and he could also hear Hawk putting up a mean fight three levels up. Ice was counting on the men pursuing him to split up. He made it to the end of the