Operation Neptune doesn't go as planned...

Part 7

Above Pakistani airspace eight F-15Cs were racing from the north along with eight FA-18s from the south to intercept the four Pakistani F-16s before they reached Abbottabad. Other Pakistani aircraft were starting to take-off, but it would be awhile before they could be of assistance. Tensions were high all around, the Americans had announced to Pakistan they were invading their airspace with their lame excuse of a wayward training mission and the Pakistanis were now tracking the aircraft by radar. There was heated debate in the Pakistani leadership, some wanted to throw everything they had at the Americans. But realistically they were out-numbered and out-gunned. The Pakistani F-16s were very advanced, but they were still only four export models up against 16 US aircraft. But as the aircraft converged on each other a decision would soon have to be made. On the other side the US fighter pilots were confident in their aircraft and abilities, but knew there would be far reaching consequences shooting down Pakistani aircraft.

As the Pakistani Army convoy drove towards the compound they were suddenly buzzed by a helicopter that appeared out of nowhere, on the second pass some of the soldiers wildly fired their weapons into the air managing one lucky hit breaking a side window, but no serious damage. The Night Stalker pilot decided two passes were enough, he didn’t want to press his luck and have them get in some lucky shots and also wasn’t sure if they had anti-aircraft weapons. “That should buy our guys a few more minutes” he said as he saw the convoy had stopped moving and the vehicles were scattered. On the ground the Pakistani commander was trying to get his soldiers organized and moving again, most of them thought they were under attack and had dismounted to take cover away from the road.

At the compound the order had come down to the SEAL commander that they had to abandon the mission and get out of the compound. He had been trying to buy more time, he was 99.9% sure Bin Laden was there. His men were frantically tearing the building apart looking for hiding spots or escape routes. His men had threw some gas cans in the truck they had used to block the hole in the compound wall, he gave the order to blow it up and the resulting explosion and fire drove back the ever-growing crowd outside the compound. As the remainder of the SEAL team reluctantly boarded the final helicopter found an entrance to a storm drain inside the compound, the tunnel was about three feet high and came from under the main building and then continued away from the compound, from the smell also carried sewage in addition to rain water. The SEAL commander fumed upon hearing about the tunnel “if he got into the drainage system who knows where he went!” he yelled. At the moment someone outside the compound began firing towards the helicopter hovering over the main building. He had his men fire some gas grenades over the compound wall into the crowd as he ordered the rest of his men to get into the helicopter immediately. The tear gas caused a panic in the crowd and stopped whoever was shooting for the moment.

In the Whitehouse President Obama didn’t know what to think, he knew going in this was an incredibly risky mission. There was no way to guarantee Bin Laden would be in the compound. But the initial reports made it sound like Bin Laden had been spotted. However now they were evacuating the compound without him. He knew relations with Pakistan were going to be rough and without Bin Laden being captured/killed in Pakistan it would make justifying the raid that much harder. His thoughts were then interrupted when he was reminded the raid wasn’t over yet as the force had to make it out of Pakistan despite the Pakistani Air Force jets nearing Abbottabad.
 
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