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standing sentry looked down into the opening where he stood and spoke to those inside. Jim made out the words, ‘It’s clear.’
    Through the rear door of the truck’s makeshift armored enclosure stepped the woman. With only the slight mound of the new grave shielding him, Jim pressed the side of his face into the dirt to try and be as small as possible.
    The woman carried a roll of toilet paper under her left arm and a revolver in her right hand. She quietly closed the rear door and walked to an oak tree surrounded by brush just near the rear of the driver side of the pickup.
    Jim didn’t see any night vision optics worn or carried by the woman. He guessed they only had the one pair, since she periodically would shine the red-lensed flashlight as a guide in her short walk toward the tree. Jim considered using his AR-15 but even with the suppressor it would be heard clearly by those inside the pickup.
    The woman stopped and shined her light at the man atop the truck. “Is it still clear?” she asked in a loud, slurred attempt at a whisper.
    Jim cringed; although she seemed to know she should be quiet, the alcohol and drugs she was now under the influence of kept her from controlling her volume.
    The man on the roof looked in her direction with his night vision. “Yeah. Be quiet and hurry up and piss,” the man answered and turned his attention back toward the MRAP.
    Jim determined now was as good a time as he may get. The three were probably as separated as far from each other as they would be that night.
    He rose from the ground and with his AR-15 aimed at the woman he made his way toward her. While he closed the distance, she appeared to look around, but didn’t turn on her flashlight. She couldn’t see him in the blackness. She bent down and set her revolver and the roll of toilet paper on the ground.
    Jim angled his approach to stay behind her. He heard the sound of her zipper as she pulled it down. He continued to approach, he was less than six feet away when she grabbed the waistband of her jeans on each side and prepared to lower her pants. Jim moved his rifle so it hung on its harness on his left. He removed the knife from its sheath on his right thigh and closed the remaining distance.
    As the woman began to bend in an effort to lower her pants, Jim reached around with his left hand, brought it up and struck her in the chin with the heel of his hand. Immediately after the blow landed, he closed his palm around her mouth and her nose to try to prevent any cries for help.
    The force of the blow to her chin caused immediate pain in her jaw and a spontaneous reaction to cry out. Vanessa tried but was unable to take in air, because a hand was now clasped over her mouth and nose. The pain of the initial hit gave way to the fear and panic of not being able to breathe. She tasted her blood as it filled her mouth. Vanessa scratched and clawed at her attacker's hand but it brought her no air.
    Jim held his grip tightly with his left hand and pulled the woman against his body to maintain control and get an easier kill strike with his knife. The woman continued to claw and scratch at his hand and arm as he placed the tip of the six-inch blade to the right side of her neck, where the skull ends and the cervical spine begins.
    Jim felt the blade penetrate her skin and scrape past bone as he pushed in the knife and angled the blade upward and severed her spine. The woman ceased movement and became limp. He pulled out the blade and felt her warm blood flow onto his chest as he slowly dragged her body behind the oak tree. He wiped the woman’s blood from his knife onto her shirt and sheathed it.
    As Jim stood upright from the body, he heard the man’s voice from the top of the truck whisper, “Vanessa.” Jim looked around the shrubs and the oak tree and saw the man looking directly at him through his handheld night vision device.
    Simultaneously, the man bent down and grabbed the rifle that had lay at his feet while Jim