Chapter 1

I could remember the bridge that changed my life 20 years ago. I could remember that horrific morning on Bayer's Bridge in the Soviet occupied Turkey. I'll tell you the story. The Soviets invaded our homeland. After the tide of the war changed in Cuba, and Soviets lost a major battle, our country began on an offensive front by sending troops into South Korea. From there, we could make an attack into Russia. But after two months, the battle in the Russia/North Korea border was a stalemate. Over 40,000 lives were killed in 2 months. So we opened another front. We were to send troops to the Mediterranean and pass through Istanbul. From there, we could send troops into Stalingrad, one of the prime cities of Russia. On July 19th, General Carville sent over 60,000 troops and 500 armored vehicles and tanks to Istanbul. The Army Rangers were also deployed with the army in Istanbul. That's where I come in. My name is Staff Sergeant Chris Johnson. I'm a ranger for 4 years but I never went out into open combat. I'm pretty much an airborne ranger who parachutes behind enemy lines. 

General Taylor the great general who defeated the Russians at Chicago was commander-in-chief of U.S. personnel in Turkey. The general looked onto the brave, young, 24 American rangers standing in the briefing room. Among us, is my best friend Staff Sergeant Jimmy Knight. Then there's the oldest ranger Captain John Matthews who was in combat during the battle for Boston 1 year ago. Also Sergeant David Willis, the "legend" to most people. After serving 3 years in Black Operations and for hostage rescues in Russia. He's a legend to us and to America. Receiving 2 Bronze Medals and a purple Heart. Taylor explains the importance of this mission. He says, "There is a disc containing several U.S. missile silo locations. These silos are located around the world. The thing is, we can send a missile to any country within 3 minutes notice. Our missiles being sophisticated and traveling at approximately mach 3. The Russians have stolen this disc about a month ago but our sources indicate they haven't cracked the password that protects the disc. We have a CIA agent undercover in their facility which serves as our source. Your job is to raid onto that base and take the disc. Now this is the route. You guys will be divided into 2 groups. Team Alpha, and Team Bravo. Team Alpha will be parachuted about 600 yards north of the base. Then they will travel south east coming up to this storm drain. From there, they can infiltrate through the sewers coming up to a ladder that leads to the janitor's facility. Team Bravo will blast through the south entrance and secure the main computer room. Alpha will take the disc, head south to the computer room, and leave with team Bravo. There will be 6 Spectre Gun ships that will pick you up about a mile south of the base. From there, you will board and head back to base. Mission time should be less than 4 hours!" Tomorrow is the mission date and you guys will leave at 6 O'clock PM. 

As far as the mission is concerned, it was successful. There I was standing with Team Bravo at the control room. My best friend near me, and the Captain near the exit. I was there for 5 minutes then I saw Alpha come in. We greeted each other and left. We then hiked a mile south to the pick up point. At 12 O'clock PM, there was still no sign. Then I heard something in my radio. "Rangers, we're coming to get you just sit tight!" It seemed all right. Nothing went wrong until 2 minutes later. All I heard on my radio is "Going down, going down!" Trooper 61 Down, Trooper 66 down. Do you copy that. We're getting heavy enemy fire and Anti-aircraft fire do you copy that. My men were confused. What was going on with the pick up force. Silence came. Then I saw to the east many Russian troops charging. About 60 of them were charging at us. I yelled, "FIRE, FIRE, FIRE AT WILL!" A huge burst of bullets came running towards the Russians. Countless bullet shells were can be seen on the cold Russian grounds. About all of them were killed after a minute of constant fire. Captain Matthews radioed Istanbul base. General Taylor radioed back, "I want all you guys to stay calm. I have you guys an exit. About 14 miles south of you direction, there is Bayer's canyon. There is a bridge that leads to Turkey safe zone. From there we can pick you up with 12 Spectre Gun ships. Captain addressed the 24 tired rangers. We than had to run about 400 yards east of our position so that more Russians don't come. It is 12:31, after at least 20 minutes of resting, we came on the move again. We were indeed tired. After all, we already hiked a mile with about 50 pounds of gear on. It was dark. We could barely see anything. But we had our night vision with us so it wasn't a problem. I saw behind me first class Private Smith fell from fatigue. But it was actually a sprained ankle. We had to carry him on our shoulders. His right ankle should heal in a couple of hours. That's what our medic Second class private Davidson said. 

By 0100, we got a mile walked already. Probably at our pace, we'll reach the bridge by 4 or 5 o' clock maybe. I started to see my men showed signs of fatigue. I drank some of my water. The cold climate usually freezes up my water. The 24 rangers hiked the mountains. It was a cold night even though it was in July. After all, we were in the mountains. It was 30 minutes ago when we got radio silence from Istanbul. Captain Matthews was in the lead showing no signs of fatigue. With no GPS, the men relied on their directions they were told. 14 miles south of the drop-off, and near a bridge. 3 hours passed. Still no sign of the bridge. At 0451, we spotted the bridge. It seemed empty. It showed no activity. We got to the entrance. We crossed through what appeared to be an arc in the middle. After that, it was a different story. 

It was quiet until shots were fired. From the corner of my eye, I spotted a round, cylindrical object flying through the air. I yelled, "RPG!!!" the rocket hit the side of the arc. Fortunately no one was hurt. Our M-16s were loaded up and prepared to fire. We saw a couple of conscripts behind a car. I fired my M-16 through a window and killed a conscript. Luckily there were no tanks or armored vehicles. We started to retreat back to the northern tower. We got one injured man from the fire fight. Hopefully it wasn't lethal. He got shot in the left torso. We climbed up the steps and entered the tower. From there we can see across the bridge. But the morning fog limited our visibility to the arc. Our snipers crouched and aimed their gun out of the window. We had about 4 snipers. 6 people gunning M249 heavy machine guns. And the rest carrying M-16 assault rifles. Luckily, no one was hit on that ambush. But we are still pinned down and taking heavy enemy fire from the Russians. I took a binocular from this Private with a Sniper Rifle and zoomed in on the other side of the bridge. I could barely see anything because of the fog. But I can see about a dozen people on the center arch, and about 10 people on the grounds of it. To the looks, about 2 people are carrying RPGs. Rocket Propelled Grenades are dangerous to our helicopters and to us. The lethal grenades can cause damage proportional to any of our grenades, but is powered by a rocket. I looked at my watch. It was 0600. I can see the light of dawn. I was standing guard in this storage room beneath the tower. The bridge itself was at least 300 yards long. And only 20 yards wide. 

At least 4 hours passed. We still have no sign of Istanbul base. And we are running out of ammunitions. I probably have only 6 grenades left, and about 5 more clips for my M-16. I don't know if we could last. The cold wind of the mountains pass the 24 of us. Setting a Breeze and temperature to 40 degrees. I looked again at the arch. Still no sign of help. STAND GROUND! The young private alerts the sleeping rangers. We got up and aimed out the windows. I shot an officer. 4 Russians went down after that. I said to myself, "Oh my god!" I yell, "RPG!" The rocket grenade passes through the window and explodes on the back wall. The captain sighs. Luckily no one was killed but there was an injury. A brick hit a young sergeant's foot. Allowing him to be injured like the other guy. I look out the window, staring upon a vast Russian army of 50 men marching towards us. 

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