The drop in volume of fire from the ragheads’ side was noticeable even with the grenade’s explosion briefly drowning it out. Although the rearmost car - likely not a coincidence it was the most expensive-looking one - was hiding something more. Bedouin ‘special forces’, if they even grapsed such a concept? Third party, contractors likely, somehow related to their HVI or his capture? She felt confident ruling out armed forces of any country with an army decent enough to deploy a spec ops team. “Do we want one alive or is it not even worth it?” Sure, how would you even go about that in these conditions, but better ask than be sorry.

The grenade turned out to be everything she hoped for, stopping the russian-built vehicle and the threat of flanking them it presented, all with the added bonus of creating an opening that, although brief, allowed others to clean the rest up with extreme prejudice. After taking a moment to confirm the Lada was well and truly fucked, the ex-spetsnaz stuck her head from behind the Nimr to see what could be done about the rest of the locals, only to be forced to shrink back behind the car by a hail of 12,7s sprayed wildly over the Ares mercenaries. It didn’t look like it was aimed at her - if anything, it looked like the target was anything in a forty-or-so degree cone encompassing the Nimrs. Which was good, because that meant their marksman wasn’t on the receiving end of it. Therefore, in an ideal case, they’d just have to wait a few seconds and boom, problem solved. Right? Ah, who was she kidding? What were these ‘ideal cases’,  where could you get some and how much for a lifetime pass? Maybe the company could even get tax returns on them.

Unfortunately, having gone where she was to avoid line of sight from the two American-made cars, she didn’t see much she could do from where she was standing. Yes, she could move, or expose herself, but - bloody fifty cal. If they weren’t going to scuttle their gear at the end of the mission, it might have been worth stealing the thing. “Any bright ideas?” she asked. They had three machine guns over one, so ideally, they shouldn’t have a problem suppressing the fifty. Ideally - that fucking word again.

She decided to leave the flatbed to the others for now and shifted to the corner of the Nimr that was the closest to the dune, her attention going back to the Jeep and the goons around it as she poked her head from around the MRAP, careful not to expose herself to the flatbed. They seemed to be preoccupied with the dune, or rather who was on it. Good for her now, but bad for everyone else. The Russian switched her rifle to her left shoulder to keep as much of her in cover as possible as she sent several short bursts at the Jeep, the first one aimed at the closest person and the rest intended to suppress and give the marksman more breathing room.