“We sleep safely at night because rough men stand ready to visit violence on those who would harm us.” - Prime Minister Winston Churchill(Ret.)

Prologue

Commander Matt Williams is a Navy Seal attached to the CIA’s Special Activities Division, he is in command of a covert project code named Yosemite. Yosemite was founded by the CIA in 2002 after the 9/11 Attacks. Teams attached to Yosemite use intel gathered by CIA analysts to systematically capture or kill individuals deemed threats to the United States or it’s assets. Teams attached to Yosemite operate without any oversight and are not subject to the Uniform Code of Military Justice. The unique structure of Yosemite enables its units to utilize any and all means necessary in the process of tracking and killing high value individuals. Matt was the leader of DEVGRU, an elite Navy Seal Unit before he was recruited by the CIA to command Team Yankee, a unit attached to Yosemite. Matt’s team consists of elite handpicked warriors. To date Matt has had have the most successful Yosemite Unit, responsible for over 15 high value kills since their deployment six months ago. Matt’s team consists of Charlie, a temerarious explosives expert from Pasadena, Mark, an atrabilious scout sniper from Georgia, John, an intelligence analyst turned Seal from Wichita, Frank, a NYPD ESU Captain turned Army Ranger, Kate, a charming and beautiful Navy Captain who worked with Matt in the Chad Republic, Skyy, a Harvard graduate who joined the Marines after 9/11, and Kelsi, a champion boxer and Matt’s ex-girlfriend. Matt’s team works on a “Bounty System.” The Pentagon places monetary bounties on each high value individual, the team who claims the individual’s life collects the bounty, which is usually between two and twenty million dollars depending on the importance of the individual.

Killing “Twinkie”

Khost Province, Afghanistan,
It’s 2200 hours at Forward Operating Base Salerno on a chilly December night. Matt and his squad are preparing to conduct a kill or capture mission on Abu Yassif, a puissant general in the Taliban who had a five million dollar bounty put on his head over six months ago.
At the weapons and readiness check on the morning before the raid Charlie requested Matt cancel the night raid and conduct the raid in broad daylight instead, Charlie wanted to “Nail him to a cross in the middle of Khost and and stone the impuissant devil to death. Matt disagreed as Charlie’s request was a temerarious one. Matt remarked “Would your parents want to see a flag draped over a casket with your lifeless corpse inside? You have a duty to your nation, and a duty to your parents, a duty which you can’t fulfill if you 6 feet under.” After the talk Charlie agreed, with slight reservation, to the night raid.
After the morning weapons check the day continued on as usual, the plan was to depart F.O.B Salerno at 1 a.m. the next morning, fly to Rusty, which was the code name for Abu Yassif’s abode, kill Twinkie, which was the code name for Abu Yassif, gather intelligence and depart by helicopter. The entire raid was to take about 20 minutes, Twinkie lived in the mountains, and any possible Taliban reinforcements, excluding his personal bodyguards would take at minimum 45 minutes, a reassuring fact for the SEAL’s as they would have the advantage of stealth on their entry and exit. At around noon the team gathered for final preparations, each man was assigned a role, Charlie and Skyy were on demolition duty, Mark and Frank were on overwatch, Kelsi and John were attached to the east wing of the structure, and Matt and Kate were assigned to the west wing of the structure. After final preparations Matt gave his team the rest of the day off. While most of the men were at the shooting range or playing cards, Matt and Kate sneaked way for a romantic tryst, they had been dating sine the met in the Chad Republic, however they decided to keep their relationship sub rosa to avoid a confit of interest with the team. Charlie went to the shooting range, there was an ire in his eyes every time he squeezed the trigger, he was preparing to slay Twinkie. At 12 a.m. the next morning the team members rendezvoused at Point Zulu, the readied their gear, checked their communications and boarder the chopper. The Apache began to ascent, the wind wash from the rotors creating a mini sandstorm.
As the helicopter was gliding through the sky Kate espied as two tall mountains rising from the brume, Kate had always admired the beautiful Afghan terrain. After a few moments Charlie interrupted the team and requested them to join him in prayer, he prayed aloud “May you, our lord give us the strength and courage to carry out our mission, may you keep us safe from harm, and may you bless our mission. In your name we pray, Amen.” A few moments later Charlie looked back at the U.S. Flag, flanked by the fulgent lights of Salerno. He thought of his parents, and everyone else who perished on 9/11. He prayed for them to rest in peace and vowed he would avenge the deaths. 15 minutes later the team had a visual on Rusty, Rusty was a medium sized concrete structure, located near the summit of the Jaber mountain range. Around 30 seconds later the  pilot said the words everyone had been waiting to hear- “60 seconds to touchdown.” Everyone loaded their weapons, switched on the night vision goggles and prepared to rappel onto Rusty’s roof. Matt was the last one off the Apache, he rappelled down the helicopter with immense speed, almost burning off his gloves in the process. After taking a few short moments to regroup Mark and Frank sprinted to the laundry room, a small structure east of the roof with a clear view of the house. After taking their positions Mark reached for his Remington MSR, chambered a round and a slowly exhaled, ready to squeeze the trigger at a moments notice. After receiving the all clear from Mark the remaining team members used the tenebrous storm drain of Rusty to crawl to their assigned locations. After the teams arrived at their assigned locations Matt reached for his radio, depressed the push to speak button and spoke the magic words - “Entry in 60.” Entry in 60 was a sailor’s way of saying “You have a minute to pick the lock and breach the structure or were all dead! Both teams were able to pick the lock and breach Rusty on the 60 second mark.
Thermal imaging of the house showed 3 heat signatures in the central room, which connected the east and west wing. Based on prior intelligence the team believed Twinkie was residing in the central room, while his bodyguards and family members were scattered across the two wings. Matt ordered the teams to clear the wings silently and rendezvous at the central room, at which point they would eliminate Twinkie. Both teams began to sweep their respective rooms, Kate and Charlie had just arrived on the second floor when they encountered Masham, Twinkie’s sibling in the game room playing cards with his acquaintances. Just as Masham went all in Charlie raised his rifle and discharged two rounds from his H&K 416, striking Masham in the chest. Kate followed suit and discharged 6 rounds from her H&K MP7. 10 seconds and eight bullets later four men lying on the floor in a pool of blood, Masham still gripping his full house. Kate and Charlie exited the room and proceeded to sweep the rest of the wing. Matt was sweeping the west wing when he caught glimpse of a
bodyguard watching T.V, his finger on the trigger of an AK 47. Matt knew if he was to shoot the bodyguard postmortem twitching might cause an accidental discharge of the AK 47, alerting the remaining bodyguards and Twinkie of uninvited guests. Matt barnstormed for a solution and decided to illude the bodyguard. Matt switched his phone to silent mode, hoping the vibration would draw out the bodyguard. Matt’s plan succeeded, the bodyguard walked outside the room, trying to find the source of the vibration. A few moments later Matt ambushed him from behind. slitting his throat using a serrated silver knife. The bodyguard was lying on the floor, the AK47 clenched tight in his lifeless hand. Matt stepped over the corpse of the bodyguard and proceeded to clear the remaining rooms. At the east wing Kelsi was clearing her final room when Charlie sprinted into the central room, catching Twinkie by surprise. He holstered his H&K 416 and drew his handgun, he wanted the kill to be personal. He eliminated two of Twinkie’s bodyguards, and shot Twinkie in the knee. Twinkie dropped to the ground, he knew he was going to die. Twinkie began to recite Shahada, the Muslim declaration of faith. Charlie walked towards Twinkie, aimed his handgun at Twinkie’s head and speaking in Arabic said “ 'ana qatluk bism al'amrikiiyn alshshujean aldhyn qadimuu hayatihim fi khidmat ‘ummatihim.” which meant “ I kill you in the name of the brave Americans who gave their life in service to their nation.” Matt arrived at the Central Room just in time to witness a muzzle flash coruscating through the wall. Matt entered the room and found Twinkie, lying lifeless on the rug, with Charlie standing over his corpse.
Walking up to Twinkie, Matt could see the fear of death in Twinkie’s eyes. While Matt took an image of Twinkie’s corpse and collected a DNA sample as evidence of death the rest of the team gathered Twinkie’s files and cassette recordings, which bestrewed the floor of the central room. Mark found an anti-U.S. philippic along with plans to target a U.S. Military convoy,
viewing Twinkie’s corpse provided little consolation.
Twenty minutes after Team Yankee first entered Rusty Charlie remarked on his radio “For God and Country, Twinkie EKIA.” The team had completed their mission, they had eliminated one more high value target, the had made Khost Province ever so slightly safer for Coalition Troops. As they embarked the chopper and flew away from Rusty with an immense sense of joy and
fulfillment Kate broke the ice and remarked “So whose gonna buy the drinks?”