I am watching as if everything is in slow motion and even the sound is muted. It was Hamet who slid off his safety, leveled his weapon and opened fire; his first rounds shattered the face and chest of bin Laden. Taheer was half a second later, sweeping his Uzi across the circle of men who were caught frozen in poses. Some died with expressions of disbelief and two of the men were reaching for their weapons when they were stitched with bullets.

For a few seconds of silence the two friends pondered the difference between the sound of laughter and the staccato rhythm of automatic weapons. Then they set about the rest of their tasks. Their instructions were clear: dispose of any trace of the bodies, right down to the DNA. They have been told that the CIA and FBI have bin Laden's DNA, captured from some strands of hair. They understand that no body and no trace of a body must exist. They moved the corpses closer to the rock face, where an overhang protects them from the eyes of roving satellites.

In their field packs they each had a metal container of chemicals which, when mixed with not more than 300 parts water, produces a solvent that quickly dissolves biological material, including bone and clothing. There was enough water in the cache a few yards away. The stench was worse than the task of dismembering the bodies.

The two men rinsed the blood spattered rock with what remained of the solvent and dug a deep grave for the weapons and other materials that could not be dissolved. It was well into the afternoon when each of the men inspected the other's work and they were satisfied. They stripped off their blood-spattered robes, dissolved them and changed into normal desert wear from their backpacks. They headed back in the direction from which they came.

Now I am across the valley and 100 yards up the mountain, I know some time has passed because I am watching as the two men approach. When they are about 20 yards short of the bottom of the mountain, 20 yards away from the shelter of rocks, they are picked off. A sniper, who had been cramped in a crevasse since the day before, emerges, clambers a hundred feet down the mountain and, after briefly relieving the bodies of telltale items, abandons them where they fell.

He heads southeast.

bin Laden cont. Part III

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