the background noise and zero in on what the bearded Muslim was saying. John immediately recognized the man was speaking in Dari and realized he wasn’t talking to himself, but reciting an excerpt from the Koran. John turned slightly to get a peripheral view. He stayed relaxed when he saw the hand held detonator and the wires running up into the sleeve of the terrorist’s jacket. The other man had an unzipped bag at his feet and John could see the butt of an automatic weapon poking out of the top.
Most suicide bombers act alone. After a few had been stopped and overwhelmed by crowds before they could blow themselves up there were now instances of two man teams. One is the bomber and the other acts as security, ready to shoot down any good Samaritans that try to intervene.
What made the scene so incredible was that no one else noticed or paid any attention to these guys. People were just walking by and standing next to two suicide bombers in the middle of downtown Manhattan!
John was glad that no one noticed. If someone shouted an alarm the crowd would panic and the terrorist would release the trigger and detonate. John knew he had to act fast.
Retired or not, civilian or not, he would always be a Green Beret. He took the Swiss Army knife he always carried out of his pocket, opened the blade, and slid in behind his two targets. He didn’t hesitate. His body coiled like a spring, from two feet away he exploded forward with deadly speed and precision, plunging the knife into the back of the security guard’s neck. The blade entered right above the shoulders, severing the spinal cord so swiftly and forcefully that the man was dead before he could make a sound.
The bomber was unaware of what just happened and was finishing his final prayer when he saw his partner fall forward. His mouth shot open and his eyes bulged wide with surprise. They bulged even wider when John hit him with the same knife blow from behind, instantly killing him where he stood.
He knew the dead man would spasm so he grabbed the hand with the detonating button before the terrorist’s thumb released the trigger. Holding on tight, John fell to the ground with the body.
Dozens of people had just seen two men killed in broad daylight. They screamed and ran in panic.
“He killed them! He killed them!” one hysterical woman shouted as she charged through the crowd.
In the sea of human chaos John stayed cool. Holding firmly onto the firing button, he pulled open the dead terrorist’s jacket to make sure there were no trip wires or booby traps that would detonate the thick wads of plastic explosive strapped to the body.
As an 18C SF weapons sergeant John was familiar with all types of ordinance. Tuning out the noise around him, he focused on disarming the device. The mechanism was a simple yet lethal design. You hold the four inch tubular device in the palm of your hand with your thumb depressing a button at one end. When the button is released the bomb goes off. This ensures that if the bomber is shot, or killed before detonating the device himself, it will automatically go off when his fingers relax. If John hadn’t grabbed the terrorist’s hand and held the trigger down in the same instant that he killed him they both would have been blown to bits along with hundreds of innocent people.
The wires ran up the limp arm and into the back of the vest-like rig. He took his time examining each wire and then double checked before he cut the lead from the pack, making the button in the firing tube useless. He looked down at the long brick shaped strips of C4, or plastic explosive. Each “wad” had small ball bearings, marbles and nails imbedded in it, as did the vest itself. The bomb was designed to kill and maim. He estimated that everyone within thirty yards would have been dead or seriously injured.
“Jesus,” he said.
John stood up and looked around. Although some of the crowd had run far away from the grisly scene many remained close by. They
Most suicide bombers act alone. After a few had been stopped and overwhelmed by crowds before they could blow themselves up there were now instances of two man teams. One is the bomber and the other acts as security, ready to shoot down any good Samaritans that try to intervene.
What made the scene so incredible was that no one else noticed or paid any attention to these guys. People were just walking by and standing next to two suicide bombers in the middle of downtown Manhattan!
John was glad that no one noticed. If someone shouted an alarm the crowd would panic and the terrorist would release the trigger and detonate. John knew he had to act fast.
Retired or not, civilian or not, he would always be a Green Beret. He took the Swiss Army knife he always carried out of his pocket, opened the blade, and slid in behind his two targets. He didn’t hesitate. His body coiled like a spring, from two feet away he exploded forward with deadly speed and precision, plunging the knife into the back of the security guard’s neck. The blade entered right above the shoulders, severing the spinal cord so swiftly and forcefully that the man was dead before he could make a sound.
The bomber was unaware of what just happened and was finishing his final prayer when he saw his partner fall forward. His mouth shot open and his eyes bulged wide with surprise. They bulged even wider when John hit him with the same knife blow from behind, instantly killing him where he stood.
He knew the dead man would spasm so he grabbed the hand with the detonating button before the terrorist’s thumb released the trigger. Holding on tight, John fell to the ground with the body.
Dozens of people had just seen two men killed in broad daylight. They screamed and ran in panic.
“He killed them! He killed them!” one hysterical woman shouted as she charged through the crowd.
In the sea of human chaos John stayed cool. Holding firmly onto the firing button, he pulled open the dead terrorist’s jacket to make sure there were no trip wires or booby traps that would detonate the thick wads of plastic explosive strapped to the body.
As an 18C SF weapons sergeant John was familiar with all types of ordinance. Tuning out the noise around him, he focused on disarming the device. The mechanism was a simple yet lethal design. You hold the four inch tubular device in the palm of your hand with your thumb depressing a button at one end. When the button is released the bomb goes off. This ensures that if the bomber is shot, or killed before detonating the device himself, it will automatically go off when his fingers relax. If John hadn’t grabbed the terrorist’s hand and held the trigger down in the same instant that he killed him they both would have been blown to bits along with hundreds of innocent people.
The wires ran up the limp arm and into the back of the vest-like rig. He took his time examining each wire and then double checked before he cut the lead from the pack, making the button in the firing tube useless. He looked down at the long brick shaped strips of C4, or plastic explosive. Each “wad” had small ball bearings, marbles and nails imbedded in it, as did the vest itself. The bomb was designed to kill and maim. He estimated that everyone within thirty yards would have been dead or seriously injured.
“Jesus,” he said.
John stood up and looked around. Although some of the crowd had run far away from the grisly scene many remained close by. They
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