Impact | Book 6 | Dig

by Isherwood, E. E.

  He ran after Haley and Butch, who were almost at the last container.

  “Hold up!” he called out. “We don’t actually need to do this one.” He looked back at the stopped trucks, wondering if that was true.

  “It’s only one more,” Haley protested. “I want to do this right. Plus, we’ll have this side cleared. If those trucks can’t make it with the hole we’ve made, they never will.”

  Butch looked at him with what-can-I-do eyes. Ezra knew his buddy was willing to press the attack with his lady friend and he wouldn’t do it if he thought it was going to fail. Ezra had to admit, other than the last miscue, they were doing some stellar work clearing the strong points.

  “One more,” he finally agreed.

  The doors to the yellow shipping container were sealed shut. Haley knocked while he and Butch prepared their rifles. In silent agreement, they nodded to each other about the need to be ready with weapons this time. No one would get the drop on them again.

  They hunched down next to the door, toward the back side, waiting for it to open. Bullets plinked off the metal and repeatedly struck rocks all around them.

  “Water girl is here!” Haley yelled over the din.

  “Tell them ammo is here, too,” Ezra suggested.

  “And ammo!” she added happily.

  The swinging doors unlatched. Despite being completely prepared for whoever opened them, Ezra took pause when he saw the face.

  “Christian?” he let slip.

  Anticline Ranch, WY

  Mr. Aarons rushed into Petteri’s command center, which remained inside the living room of the rustically decorated Anticline Ranch. “The attack is hitting our wall in the south, sir. The shipping containers are making them think twice about pushing into the train depot.”

  “Will it stop them? You know we have to keep the ash plant open so we can load the coal cars with ore from there. It will take time. We need to keep the enemy clear of the tracks, too.” He knew it was an impossible task, but he was committed to his plan.

  “The last word I got from Nerio Torres was the civilian force was getting sniped to death from her people in the front line of shipping containers. I’d say it’s going to stop them.” Mr. Aarons seemed a little uncertain.

  Dorothy was already there, with her laptop set up at the end of the conference table. She looked up when Mr. Aarons seemed to finish. “I’m not so sure. I have a surveillance drone over the action right now. I can see the line of trucks and cars out in rocky scrub. It looks like they’re stopped here, but not over here.” After he and Aarons joined her, she pointed to the western part of the line of shipping containers. Trucks had sped into the row of metal containers, as if willing to absorb whatever gunfire came their way.

  “How are they getting through?” Petteri asked.

  The drone floated around the weakened section of the defensive line. All the boxes seemed to be shut, save for the last one. She pointed to the screen where three people huddled together outside the box while seemingly talking to someone on the inside. Whatever was happening, they seemed oblivious to all the vehicles inching closer.

  “I’m not sure. It’s almost like no one is inside the containers toward the western half, or they aren’t firing back.” Dorothy tried to fly the drone to get a better look at the front sides of the colorful boxes, but she cried out when the screen jolted.

  “What was that?” Petteri asked.

  “Someone is shooting at my eye in the sky. I’ve got to back it away from the danger zone.”

  He tried not to show worry. Petteri also tried not to feel it. If his men couldn’t follow a simple command and shoot their weapons at the approaching terrorists, he wondered why he should bother paying them at all. Of course, it also struck him that some of the men could be changing their minds about playing soldier. He’d put Nerio in charge down there; he’d expected more from her. As it was, if they were already passing the outer line of defenses, it wouldn’t be long before they were inside the soda ash plant. His men would have an easier time defending the stout metal buildings, but it would also endanger his trains.

  “Show me what’s going on in Boulder,” he demanded, hoping for better news.

  Dorothy switched the camera view to show another aerial drone’s feed. When she clicked over, the screen showed more shipping containers next to a dumpy little town.

  She brushed away her bangs before looking at him. “Mr. Tikkanen, I’m repositioning this drone so it can see along the gravel road. I’d like to get a better look at the attackers coming from up there.”

  He pointed to the screen. “What are those?” The image panned wider than the town as the flying platform veered in the sky. The maneuver revealed a thin line of vehicles on the distant highway. “White trucks?” he asked.

  “Let me see,” she sighed, before leaning over her keyboard. She seemed a little put out he would ask a question while she was moving the aircraft, but her feelings were none of his concern.

  “I can’t get too close, but this zoomed picture shows them parked about a mile from the town.” The picture flipped to a fuzzy image showing a line of white SUVs parked alongside the desolate two-lane highway. There were at least ten of the uniform vehicles, followed by a pair of pickups.

  The lead SUV was beat up and stripped of most of its color.

  “Get close to that one,” he demanded.

  “But sir, the main attack is coming from the mountains. Those people are in the open. They’ll know we’re watching them. They might even—”

  “Just do it!” he snapped. After a brief moment of reflection, he added. “I think I recognize one of them. If so, we’ve got problems requiring immediate solutions.”

  If it was Asher and the park ranger, he was tempted to divert one of the nukes to land on top of them. It would totally be worth it.

  Chapter 15

  Boulder, WY

  “We have to warn Shawn he’s walking into a trap,” Grace said while still peering through the binoculars. That isn’t a sleepy town, it’s crawling with enemy forces.” To her point, a small propeller aircraft flew about a hundred feet above her head. “On the ground and in the air.”

  Asher looked distractedly at the aircraft, then turned back to her. “Maybe Shawn and his people will see the same thing?”

  She faced the dust plumes coming out of the mountains to the east. They were still too far away to determine if they had a line-of-sight to the town. From her position, however, it didn’t seem likely. There were a few rolling hills leading up to that side of the town, so they’d have to get very close before they saw the place in any detail.

  Candy’s voice came from behind her. “What do you want us to do, boss?”

  Grace tensed up. She hadn’t planned on being in charge of the whole group. Not when it came time to fire weapons. After getting to her feet, she looked for someone who might be able to help. “Does anyone have military experience?”

  The older gentleman, Carson, raised his hand. She pointed to him. “What would you do? I want to get down there before my friends arrive, so they know the place is dangerous. We can’t drive in through the front, can we?”

  Carson chewed on his lip. “Well, I can’t say I did anything truly dangerous in the service. Flew to Okinawa, once, but it was after Vietnam was all wrapped up. I was involved in supply.”

  “But you’ve seen war happen, didn’t you?” Asher probed.

  “Well, sure. You gather overwhelming force. Strike in the middle of the night. Decapitate the enemy before they even know you’re there.”

  She couldn’t do any of that.

  Carson went on. “But here, I think we have to take a different approach.”

  “So, not a direct assault,” she said to herself.

  Asher picked up on her thought. “What if we attack slowly?”

  Carson laughed, as did a few others.

  Grace was more restrained, but still smiled at him.

  He continued. “It’s like when we approached the rock in D
enver. We did it slowly, unnoticed, by using the tunnels. By the time they picked us out of the rubble, we were next to the rock. Angela was stealing it, in fact.”

  It did make some sense, but she wasn’t sure how it applied to Boulder. Unless…

  She took a stab at a plan. “This is a public road, right? We haven’t seen any cars traveling for a long time, but the highway isn’t closed. There haven’t been any Keep Out signs.”

  Candy raised her hand and spoke. “The only other vehicles we’ve seen were these.” She pointed to the trucks belonging to Carson and Rocky.

  Grace got into a groove. “Right. So, it would stand to reason these men would return this way after doing their time at the roadblock, right?”

  Carson became a bit agitated. “Oh, no, you don’t mean we drive on down there?”

  The redheaded woman giggled mischievously. “We’ll be watching from up here.”

  “No, we all go at the same time,” Grace said unevenly, feeling the words bunch up in her throat. It was the first time she was knowingly recommending they all head into danger.

  “What?” Candy said at the same time as Carson.

  “You and Rocky will drive your unassuming civilian trucks down there. Me and the others will pile in the backs, ready to hop out when we get into the heart of the town. Probably at the gas station.” She had an uneasy feeling about trusting herself to strangers, but both seemed like decent men, based on what had happened after the shooting at the roadblock.

  Candy pulled her aside, concern beading at her brows. “Look, girlfriend, I know I signed up for this, but that place scares me. Are you sure we have to go down there? Can’t we go around it? Maybe meet your friends before they get there?”

  Grace gave her the “wait a second” sign as she pulled out her phone, wondering if she could somehow get a hold of Shawn. It didn’t surprise her, however, when she tried his number and there was nothing but a voice message. She left a brief one saying hello, but thought better of leaving any hints which might give her away to the enemy.

  “That was a bust.” She reached out and touched Candy’s arm. “I can’t make you do anything, you know. I’m just a simple ranger, like you. I have to go, however, because those men helped me out of some tough spots. They’re like my family. I don’t want them to walk into a trap.”

  Candy seemed fortified by her words. “So, we’ll spring the trap first?”

  “Yeah, I guess that’s exactly what we’re going to do…” Her words drifted off, wondering if they were overlooking the obvious. Could driving into the heart of town really be the best course of action? She shifted directions, looking once more to the plume of dust rolling down the valley coming out of the mountains. It would reach Boulder in ten or fifteen minutes.

  “Well, I guess if you’re going, I’ll give it a whirl.” Candy stood there for a second, then went back to her truck, presumably to gather her weapon and some ammo.

  In the end, they chose three vehicles to go into town. Carson’s black Ford went first. Grace’s NPS Chevy went second. Rocky’s brown pickup went last. They staggered themselves, so Carson was a quarter of a mile in front. The idea was to make the people in the town think they were locals arriving separately, not as one group. If the defenders in town were bad guys with TKM, she prayed they would all be watching the arriving vehicles to the east, not a few random trucks driving happily along the main highway.

  She and Asher took up positions in the front seat of her truck. Candy and two other rangers sat in the back seat. Four others crammed into the cargo bed, lying down to stay out of sight. As she started the truck and waited for Carson to get the proper distance ahead, her lungs heaved faster and faster, as if building up to a deep dive underwater.

  “You okay?” Asher asked with worry.

  Grace glanced over, forcing a smile. “I just don’t want anyone to get hurt.”

  His return smile belied the truth.

  It was probably an impossible request.

  Soda Ash Plant, WY

  “What the hell are you guys doing out there?” Christian reached out and grabbed Haley, pulling her and the water inside the container. “They’re shooting at us!”

  To put emphasis on his words, several incoming rounds snapped off the outer shell of the shipping box. When everyone was inside, he pointed to the two men firing away through the holes. “We reinforced these containers to be able to withstand everything up to fifty cals, but I don’t think those civilians have anything like that.” He eyed Haley. “You guys were supposed to stay inside your thick shells, like freaking turtles, not come running outside to pass along water. Who ordered you to move?”

  “I did,” Ezra said, raising his rifle at Christian’s chest.

  The warrior didn’t seem surprised. “What is this? A revolt?”

  “No, we’re not organizing a rebellion. We don’t want to fight for you. We’re leaving. Now, put down your guns and no one gets hurt.”

  “Or what?” Christian replied. His two allies continued to fire rapidly through the slits. They either didn’t know what Ezra was doing, or they didn’t care. He went with the former.

  “Hey!” Ezra yelled, looking past Christian.

  An instant later, he was shoved sideways. Christian had reached out in a blur and strong-armed him into the wall. At the same time, he pushed Haley backward, causing her to trip.

  “Oh sh—” Haley started to say. Her words were drowned out by the sound of her rifle going off.

  The bullet struck the roof, then bounced into the depths of the container.

  The two men looked up from their work.

  Christian was fast, but he wasn’t quick enough to push all three of them down. Butch kept his feet and shoved back at the other man. Before the TKM leader could yank out his pistol, Butch had him reeling on his heels.

  The shipping container was twenty feet long but seemed tiny as he and five other people shifted positions. His most pressing concern was for Butch, but he recognized what would happen if the two shooters turned his way.

  Ezra leveled his rifle at the closest guy. He was a younger man, in his twenties, with his blue shirt untucked. His TKM ball cap was on backward, allowing him to get right next to the wall to fire outside, but it also made him appear younger.

  Still, Ezra had no time to debate himself. He fired in quick succession; at six feet, it was impossible to miss.

  The second man hopped up as Butch and Christian tumbled at his feet. When he came down, he aimed up the length of the container. The man fired his rifle at the same moment as Ezra…and their shots might have crossed in the tiny space.

  The bullet cut the air above Ezra’s head, igniting sparks on the roof. The other man’s shifting stance, due to Butch and Christian’s arrival, had disrupted his aim.

  By contrast, Ezra had his feet firmly planted. After downing the first man, it was a small correction to aim the muzzle at the next target. His shots went center of mass, causing another young man to fall backward.

  Butch and Christian grunted and yelled as they rolled on the plywood floor.

  “Butch!” Haley exclaimed, getting back to her feet.

  She looked over at Ezra. “Sorry for shooting my rifle on accident. Are you all right?”

  “I’m fine.”

  Christian screamed in anger. Butch flew sideways, as if tossed. His back hit the rear wall of the container. Ezra took a couple of steps in their direction, but there was no way to fire his rifle without endangering Butch. As the two men lined each other up, he searched for ways to fire at an angle, or down, so as to keep Butch out of the path of a bullet meant for Christian.

  Haley suffered no such thoughts. She ran toward Christian, who currently had his back to her. Instead of using her rifle to shoot, she swung it backward, intending to crack the man on the back of the head.

  “Die!” she screamed.

  Her rifle hit the side wall as she wound up her swing, which took most of the energy out of her attack. It ended up striking the man on the should
er, which caused him to immediately turn and backhand her in the jaw.

  “Stay out of this!” Christian hissed at her.

  Butch went into a rage. He reached down toward the floor for an object out of Ezra’s vision. His rifle was on the ground nearby, though it would be tough to grab without Christian trying to stop him. After seeing a flash of steel, Ezra knew it wasn’t a rifle. It was his knife.

  “That was a mistake,” Butch said calmly, throwing himself at the TKM boss.

  Christian was taken by surprise, but he caught Butch’s hand, stopping the big knife in it. The TKM man laughed smugly. “I’ve been fighting kids like you since my days in Special Forces. We used to trade knives in hand-to-hand practice six times a day.”

  Butch squared his powerful legs as if to try to pull the knife back away from Christian, but he seemed caught by the more skilled adversary.

  Ezra again tried to line up his shot, but now Butch was even closer to the other man. It was less likely he could fire without hitting his friend. A few heartbeats later, he realized he would have to close the distance and try to attack the guy from behind.

  However, before he could move, Haley had made it to one knee. She swung her rifle by the barrel with all the power she could muster. This time, the gun didn’t strike the wall. She was able to put full strength into the level swing, which went into the side of Christian’s knee.

  “Damn!” the guy cried out, falling sideways.

  Butch held on for a second, then pushed Christian to add power to his fall. They both struck the wall, causing the knife to rattle free.

  It was Ezra’s chance. He lunged forward, ready to strike the man on the head.

  A moment before he could attack, a handgun blasted out, almost in Ezra’s face. He froze where he was as the concussion hammered him over and over.

  By the fifth shot, he realized it was Haley.