For a mad minute
we came down on ropes,
fanned out & secured a perimeter,
then sat there
for what seemed like hours.
Somewhere in the distance
a lone dog barked
as if infected.
A small fire glowed
from the East.

When the dust finally settled,
each star gazed down on us,
exposed, lying about
in sheer darkness.

Peering through goggles
of LED-green,
we witnessed only the jackals
that had surrounded us,
but came no closer,
as they sensed immediate danger.

And we were,
had enough firepower
to level a village
and then some.
I’m positive they found our target
the next morning,
a very bad guy missing his head
& nothing else.

But we left everything as we had found it,
not a single bush smashed
or button dropped,
just one more
on our
most wanted list
dropped.