by S L Shelton
The blast instantly incinerated dozens of students, instructors, and other personnel. There was nothing but silence as I laid flat on my back, wide-eyed, staring at the flame. After a few seconds, as I struggled to my feet, a high-pitched tone began to replace the silence in my ears, very much like when Wolf tried talking to me—a consequence of my proximity to the blast.
As I got up and started trying to extinguish flames on those who were unconscious, I realized Nick was yelling at me from the side. He was trying to drag Ray away from the burning debris. I grabbed the arms of two struggling students and half-helped, half-dragged them from the fire.
“What?” I yelled, still not hearing well.
“I said choppers inbound!” he yelled and pointed at the lights heading toward us over the tree line. “Find Kobe.”
I nodded and ran to find Kobe, helping another instructor to her feet before going. My hearing was nearly back and the ringing in my ears had muted so it was just a minor annoyance. I still heard no small arms fire, so I had to assume the main fighting force was waiting to see how many people they could kill before breaching the fence.
“Kobe,” I yelled upon seeing him. He was directing students to pick up ammunition from the ground that had been blasted out into the compound. He looked up when I called.
“Nick needs you,” I yelled across the yard.
He nodded and gave one final command to the group of students before jogging toward me. I waited for him to catch up.
“Choppers are inbound,” I told him as he got closer. “I don’t think they’re friendly.”
Kobe looked up at the tree line in the distance. We saw they were hovering about a mile away.
“They’re waiting,” Kobe said.
“I know…but for what?” I asked and looked around. Two more buildings would be plausible targets for demolition charges. The fact that the armory blew up after it was packed with people told me that it had been set off remotely. That meant someone had planted them. Eric maybe?
“I think we should avoid the gym and the barn,” I said, hoping to get a nod to start moving people out.
We arrived back at Nick’s location before Kobe had made up his mind, so I presented my theory to Nick.
“They waited until the armory was full of people before they blew it,” I said to Nick. “That means preset charges.”
Nick nodded his agreement. “We need to get everyone to a defensible position with walls that can stand up to at least small arms fire.”
“I think that’s a mistake. Look,” I replied, pointing at the helicopters still hovering well out of range. “They’re waiting for something. They had the armory rigged. There are only two other buildings that would be suitably defensible…the gym and the mess hall.”
Nick stared at me for a moment and then looked toward the barn before nodding. He looked at Marcus who was waiting for orders. “Go up to the gym and see if it’s wired,” Nick said. “If it’s not wired, we’ll start moving people up there.”
“What if it is?” Marcus asked.
Nick looked around the burning compound. Students and instructors were gathering in clusters in various locations, some with firearms and some carrying makeshift weapons.
“The woods,” I said suddenly as an idea popped into my head. “If we go through the back of the compound, the tree cover is too heavy for them to use their air support. It’s only a few kilometers to the highway, and just a little more to the center of the post in the other direction.”
Nick thought about that for a moment before nodding. “That sounds like a good Plan B to me,” he said quietly. He looked at the handful of instructors around us. “Okay. Go break up those groups that are forming and move them to the south side of the compound. If the gym isn’t wired, we’ll use that as our fallback position. If it is, we’ll keep moving into the woods.”
Marcus nodded and moved off at a run toward the gym. Nick looked at Bailey and one of the other instructors. “Get those groups moving,” he said with command authority in his voice. “Anyone with a rifle or pistol to the front or rear. Don’t hesitate to redistribute based on skill. We want sharpshooters with their hands on those weapons.”
Bailey and the other man moved off, crouching low and then separating to cover more groups.
“Help me get Ray moved to the top of the hill,” Nick said to me, helping him to stand. The remaining instructors took up defensive positions around us, sweeping the landscape with their gaze, their weapons held high as we moved.
“There’s a couple of concrete bunkers about three clicks west of us,” I said as we hurriedly ran, crouching, while trying to keep Ray’s feet from dragging.
“The ammo reserve bunkers from the forties,” Ray muttered. “Most of them have collapsed, but the last time I was out there, two or three were still standing.”
“We can take the wounded there if we end up having to go for the woods,” Nick said. “A few rifles with some extra ammo and they should be able to hold off most ground attacks from there.”
Just then, Marcus ran back toward us. “Monkey Wrench was right. It’s wired to blow,” he said as he came around and took Ray’s weight off Nick. “They didn’t bother hiding it too well either. So it’s recent.”
Nick stopped the group’s forward movement and glared at Marcus before looking at me. “That wasn’t Eric,” he said. “I’ve been to the gym since he was killed. Someone else inside must have done it last night.”
“That makes sense,” Ray replied. “Eric was a student. He wouldn’t have been able to access the armory… It had to have been support staff or an instructor.”
Ray looked at Nick. “Who haven’t we seen?”
Anger swelled up in me like fire, rising in my cheeks and ears. “Penny Rhodes,” I said.
“Shit,” Nick muttered and looked back at Bailey and Marcus. “Take what you can find and start moving the wounded to the bunkers.”
“I think I should hang with you and Monkey Wrench,” Bailey protested. “You’re going to need all the muscle you can get.”
“We need able bodies to protect the wounded until we can get back with weapons and reinforcements,” Nick said commandingly.
“But—”
“Nick’s right,” Ray said, interrupting Bailey’s rebuttal. “We need you with the wounded at the bunkers.”
“What about the rest?” Marcus asked as Bailey grudgingly moved around to take Ray’s weight off my shoulder.
“We’ll send most of the survivors to the highway and the rest of us will make for the main part of the base,” Nick replied. “If these bastards have been working with someone on the inside here, they probably haven’t booby trapped the armory at Peary. We’ll arm everyone and come back in force for the wounded.”
Marcus nodded and they began to move toward the fence line with Ray.
“Nick,” Ray said, stopping Marcus and Bailey.
Nick walked over to them. “Protect my people,” Ray said. “Those students were my responsibility.”
A wave of anxiety swept over me. I had been so focused on drawing the bad guys out that it hadn’t even occurred to me how many people might get caught in the fight if it went wrong.
“This isn’t on you, Ray,” Nick said. “John and the old man did this.”
No. I did this, I thought.
“I hope it was worth it,” Ray said before he limped away, draped over Marcus and Bailey.
“Me too,” Nick muttered before handing me a rifle. “Here. You’ve got a point. Move us to the south side of the fence.” I nodded and set off at a trot.
The stream of people coming around to the backside of the gym was getting heavier. Dylan came running up to us, rifle in hand. “We’ve got the wounded moving to the west with light cover,” he said. “We gave them all the ammo we could spare. There wasn’t much.”
“Good,” Nick said. “Get us through that fence. Split everyone up. I want the best tactical bodies with us. Leave a couple with the group going to the highway.”
/> Dylan nodded and ran off to start splitting people up.
“Where am I going?” I asked.
“You’re with me,” he said. “Besides the fact that you’re one of our strongest assets, I’m not letting you out of my sight until I get you in the air.”
“The air?” I asked.
He nodded and reached into his inside jacket pocket, extracting a thick yellow envelope. “I took the liberty of using a non-agency cobbler to build you a set of travel documents,” he said. “You hold on to it in case we get separated.”
I tucked them into my canvas bag as the hairs went up on my neck. I looked behind me to see the lights on the helicopters tilt forward and down out of sight. “They’re coming,” I said to Nick.
He looked back before running toward the fence. “They must’ve gotten tired of waiting for us to go into the gym,” he said as he picked up his pace, pushing through the crowd at the back fence. “Dylan, we’re out of time. Take the people to the highway that you aren’t sending with me.”
Dylan nodded and started moving the group through a hole in the fence and then south, away from the compound.
“Everyone else with me,” Nick yelled as two instructors cut another opening in the wire further down the line and we began pushing through. “We’re moving, people. Let’s go!”
We ran as fast as we could, leaving a small trailing contingency to the rear to cover our exit into the woods, moving west toward the main part of the base. Once we were about a kilometer into the woods, Nick stopped us.
“We need to get to the armory on the range road,” Nick said as he stopped.
“Let me take a couple and bring up the rear,” Kobe said. “I can’t run as fast as I used to anyway.”
Nick nodded before Kobe tapped two rifle carriers, a man I didn’t know and Maria, to take up the rear guard.
“What about those of us without weapons?” Paul asked. I looked over my shoulder, realizing for the first time that he was with our group.
“Anyone who’s got extra, pass it over,” Nick said as I handed Paul my rifle.
“What about you?” he asked in a whisper.
I pulled my jacket back to reveal my Glock.
“When we get to the armory, hopefully, we’ll have someone with access to let us in,” Nick said. “If not, we’ll improvise.”
He looked around at the faces surrounding him as new explosions sounded back at the farm. We all turned and looked in that direction but were unable to see the flames from where we were.
“I’ll bet that was the gym,” Nick said.
I began to hear distant footfalls behind us, gaining ground slowly. “We’ve got company,” I said quietly.
Nick listened for a moment. “I’d give anything for a couple of claymores right about now,” he said as he turned.
“How about we send a couple on ahead, making a squad-sized noise, and the rest of us hang back with an ambush,” I suggested.
“That’s our new plan A,” he said and turned to the others. “You two, keep running toward base. Make as much noise as you can…you have to sound like you’re twelve people. When you hear the shooting start, double back and pinch them at the top of the key.”
They nodded and took off through the woods. “Quick. Spread out. L-shaped fighting position, interlocking fields of fire. Wait until the main body is dead center before you open up.”
We all dispersed to our locations and waited as the footsteps approached. It was only seconds before I realized I was holding my breath.
Calm down, Scott.
As the rustle of leaves got louder, I began to see movement in the woods. I slowly, purposefully, moved my finger from the trigger guard and placed it gently on the trigger. As the runners entered the kill zone, someone further down the line stirred.
“It’s Rhodes,” he hissed. “Don’t fire.”
Five forms came to an abrupt halt at the center of our kill formation, startled by the voice.
“Get down,” someone rasped in an elevated whisper.
“They’re right behind us,” Penny said as she went to the top of the formation and dropped down next to Nick. Leyla was in the group, and she quickly lay down next to me, pointing her pistol toward the footsteps that had followed them.
“I’m almost out of ammo,” Leyla whispered.
I looked at her Glock before reaching under my jacket and pulling out one of my two spare magazines. “Go easy. I’ve only got one more.”
She nodded before popping her nearly empty magazine out and sliding mine in quietly as the attackers approached.
The attackers came into view. As the eight-man team hit the center of the “L”, we opened fire. Several of the attackers dove to the side, but the left side of the formation sliced them to ribbons. The rest dropped down and tried to return fire but were quickly executed in the crossfire.
Before the gunfire had ceased, I saw one of the dying men trying to pull a grenade from his vest. I rushed forward and grasped his hand before dropping my knee down heavily on his neck. I felt his bones snap beneath my leg.
I carefully reached down, pried the dead man’s fingers from around the lever on the grenade, and wrenched the pull ring from his finger to reinsert it.
“Strip their weapons,” Nick hissed.
I was already slipping the vest on that had belonged to the grenade man. Then, after sliding the grenade into a mesh pocket, I reached down and pulled his radio off. I looked over and saw Nick doing the same. I placed the headset over my ears and pressed the mute setting on the radio.
“Team four, status,” came a booming voice. I recognized it immediately. It was the giant.
“Still in pursuit,” Nick said into the radio.
“If you make contact with the target, report his location immediately and break off. The client wants the asset to take him,” the giant replied, sending a powerful shiver down my spine.
I snapped my head around toward Nick.
“Acknowledged,” Nick replied over the radio.
“I assume I’m the target,” I said.
“Probably,” Nick replied. “But what worries me is that asset he mentioned.”
I nodded. “An embedded asset or someone we haven’t seen yet?” I asked, shifting my eyes briefly toward Penny, just enough for Nick to catch my meaning.
“I don’t know,” he whispered. “Let’s find out.”
He turned toward the dead attackers and Penny who was filling her pockets with ammunition.
“How many more were—” Nick began as he approached her, but once he was in striking distance, he stripped her weapon from her hand and threw her to the ground.
“What are you doing?” she yelled as he trapped her arm under his knee and put a knife to her throat.
“Shut up,” Nick hissed before listening for other footsteps. After a few seconds, he looked back down into Penny’s eyes. “Where were you?”
“She was in the kitchen when the rest of us went for the mess hall,” one of the male students said. “She’s the one who warned us it was wired to blow.”
“Why were you in the kitchen all by yourself, Penny?” Nick asked.
“I was looking for a place we could defend from,” she sneered. “I got these guys out just before it blew.”
Nick examined her face for a moment before pulling the knife from under her chin. He got up after pulling her pilfered rifle away. “Search her,” he said to two of the students who proceeded to thoroughly pat her down. After relieving her of all her items, one of them handed Nick her phone.
Penny reached for it but Nick yanked his hand back.
“Hold her,” he said as he began thumbing through her calls and messages. After a moment of searching, he looked up and said, “Let her go,” before tossing her phone back to her.
“Satisfied?” she asked smugly.
“No,” he replied coolly. “But it’ll do for now.”
She jerked her arm free from the last student holding her and picked up her rifle as I walked over next to
Nick. “The asset,” I whispered.
“I know,” he replied. “But we don’t have time to sit around figuring it out.”
“That voice on the radio,” I said quietly. “It belongs to that giant from the desert in Syria.”
Nick looked at me. “You’re sure?”
I nodded.
“Grab what you can and smash those extra radios. We need to get moving,” he said to the others before turning back to me. “We know the giant doesn’t give up once he’s got the scent of blood.”
I nodded, but to be honest, I was more worried about the mysterious “asset” that he had mentioned. For some reason, the hairs on my neck wouldn’t go down. We started running again, followed at a distance by Kobe and the two rear guards.
After several minutes, I pulled the collar up on my jacket and looked over my shoulder to see Kobe’s progress. The man was running at a pace that even had the young guys breathing hard…and without a single complaint. He constantly amazed me. As I turned my head forward again, I caught the sound of distant feet on the forest floor, crunching through leaves.
I stopped abruptly. “Keep going,” I said to the two rear guards as they neared me. With a nod, they picked up their pace and Kobe paused beside me, breathing heavily.
“What is it?” he asked.
I listened for a second more but no longer heard anything.
“I’m not sure,” I replied in a whisper. “Keep going. I’ll catch up.”
He patted me on the shoulder and continued running into the darkness.
I squatted down in the leaves and closed my eyes to listen as the three moved away from me; I tried to stretch out my senses to the east.
Suddenly the tone in my ear came screaming back.
The giant wanted the ground forces to break off if they spotted you, the voice said.
“I know,” I whispered. “It’s all I can think about.”
