Ava's Crucible- The Complete series Box Set

by Mark Goodwin

  Ulysses nodded to the president. “Whatever you need from me. I’ll do my best.”

  The president took a long drink from his water glass. “Good. Thank you very much. Colonel Barr will make sure you have all of the logistical support you need. If he can’t get something and you require it for this mission, contact Agent Shaub directly, and he’ll make sure I get the message.

  “Keep your plans close to your chest. Markovich still has sympathizers embedded amongst the Alliance States’ military ranks.”

  Ulysses said, “Any information you could get about the gas system used in Amarillo would be helpful. Anything at all, who the administrators were that triggered the executions, what the activation mechanisms looked like, every little bit helps.”

  Foley nodded. “I need all the data you have about security for the camps as well as an estimation of armed troops in and around Austin. We’ll be limited on how many people we can bring in without drawing attention to ourselves, but once we take out the guards at the camps, every SJL in the vicinity will answer the call for backup.”

  Blackwell turned to Shaub. “I’ll make sure Mike gets you everything we have on Austin.”

  The guests of the dinner party attempted to lighten up the conversation and enjoy the remainder of the evening. However, like a boomerang, the topic of the upcoming invasion kept coming back around.

  Later that night, Ava and Foley got ready for bed.

  She stood outside the bathroom door while he brushed his teeth. “I guess this means you won’t be leaving to go back to Idaho.”

  “I’ll still be going, but not to fight or guard the border. I have to put together a team.” He rinsed his toothbrush in the sink. “Or more like an entire company of soldiers.”

  Ava made sure he couldn’t see her grin in the mirror. She knew the discussion about her involvement in Texas would be heated, but that was okay. Foley wouldn’t be running off to fight without her, at least not just yet.

  “Before we go to sleep, I want to get one thing settled.” Foley dried his face and turned around.

  “Oh yeah? What’s that?”

  “You’re not going to Texas.”

  She decided on a subtler approach than she’d used at dinner. Ava put her hands around his waist. “Let’s talk about that in the morning.”

  He smiled and leaned in for a kiss. “Okay, but just so you know, there’s nothing to talk about.”

  Ava, Foley, and Ulysses spent most of the day Friday, brainstorming and spitballing ideas for the mission. By Friday night, they’d received hard numbers on how many regime fighters they’d be up against, if Foley’s team actually made it to Austin before being killed or captured.

  On Saturday morning, Ava rode across the base with Foley to the runway where he’d be catching a ride on a supply run back to Idaho. “When will you be back?” She pulled his bag out of the trunk.

  He positioned his rifle on one side, then slipped the shoulder strap for his duffle bag over the other. “Less than a week, I hope. The soldiers I fought with are spread out up and down the border, so I’ve got my work cut out for me in rounding them all up.”

  He pulled her close. “We never did get to have that talk.”

  “Nothing to talk about, right?”

  He pulled back and looked her in the eye. “Yeah, as long as we’re on the same page.”

  “Texas is my home. You can’t deny me the right to fight for it.” She held his hand in her own and tenderly rubbed her thumb across the top of his hand. “If you love me, if you understand who I am at all, then you’ll know this means as much to me as it does to you. I don’t like you running off to war, but I know how you feel. If I asked you to stay home, I’d be killing a small part of who you are. And I love you too much to do that, even if it costs me everything.”

  She looked up into his eyes. “Are we on the same page?”

  Foley turned at the sound of the jet engines starting up. The back ramp to the colossal C-17 was being retracted. “I’ve gotta go.” He kissed her, turned, and sprinted toward the giant cargo plane.

  CHAPTER 24

  And when Abram heard that his brother was taken captive, he armed his trained servants, born in his own house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued them unto Dan. And he divided himself against them, he and his servants, by night, and smote them, and pursued them unto Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus. And he brought back all the goods, and also brought again his brother Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

  Genesis 14:14-16

  On the morning of July 2nd, Ava sat in the front row of the briefing room at Altus Air Force Base. Some 120 men and women sat in the chairs beside and behind her. Colonel Barr, Foley, and Ulysses sat next to one another at a long table facing Ava and the other soldiers. Three weeks had passed since the dinner with Turner Blackwell. The troops had been selected, the plans had been drawn, three platoons of forty soldiers each had been formed. Each platoon was assigned to one of the three re-education camps in Austin.

  Ava thought about how many other covert teams were sitting in briefing rooms similar to this. The only difference was their targets. Rather than Austin, they would soon be deployed to Dallas, Fort Worth, Houston, Odessa, Abilene, and San Antonio. Every assault had to be flawless. The timing had to be perfect. Once the operation commenced, Markovich would know that the camps were all under a coordinated attack.

  Austin Company, the soldiers who would be responsible for liberating the camps in Ava’s hometown, were primarily from the Alliance militia. They’d trained hard over the past ten days with each platoon drilling over and over in mocked-up shoot houses designed to look as much like the camp administration buildings as possible.

  Despite Foley’s objections, Ava had trained alongside of him and Platoon Alpha in the shoot house, which was erected to mimic the layout of Austin’s level-two camp known as the Sanders Education Facility. Sanders, like many level-two camps, housed families. If Ava’s team failed, men, women, and children would be gassed instantly.

  Colonel Barr addressed the room with a speech intended to reinforce the dire importance of precision in this operation. Ava’s mind drifted back to the training she’d undergone over the last ten days. She recalled watching her father on the second day of training, his mind seeming to disconnect from his body as he relapsed into the worst dissociative state she’d seen him in since arriving at Altus six weeks earlier. When he recovered the following day, Ulysses had been ordered by Captain Murphy to stick to the planning-and-oversight side of the mission. Nevertheless, four days later, Ulysses had arrived at the shoot house at 7:00 AM with the rest of the platoon, geared up for training. No one dared tell him that he couldn’t participate, not until he had yet another episode. At that point, Foley had to put in the call to Colonel Barr, explaining that Ulysses simply wasn’t in any condition to be an operator.

  She looked at her father and husband sitting side by side at the long table in front of her. She could still see the tension between them. But, unlike the two days prior, they were at least talking to each other.

  Colonel Barr finished his discourse and took his seat, yielding the room to Ulysses.

  Ava’s father stood and walked to the whiteboard at the front of the room. “When you leave the briefing room, Austin Company will fly to Biloxi where you’ll board several fishing vessels, which are flying Mexican flags. The boats will insert you at the harbor in Brownsville, Texas. Coast Guard patrols will let you pass without question as they’ll assume you are just another wave of militants being sent up by the gangs and cartels who are working with the regime to harass cities in the Alliance States.

  “We tried to distribute the Hispanic troops evenly between the three platoons, but it will be up to you to make sure you have someone fluent in Spanish on each of the fishing boats in case the Coast Guards double check. We’ve briefed all of our Spanish speakers on the cover story they’re supposed to give if questioned. Obviously, everyone’s Spanish doesn’t sound like the na
tive Mexican dialect, so try to have a Hispanic from Texas or Mexico on each boat.”

  Ava smiled at Octavio Hernandez who was sitting on her left. “I’m riding with you,” she whispered.

  Octavio, who’d been born in Juarez, Mexico, grinned and replied sarcastically, “I’ll lend you my sombrero. You’ll fit right in.”

  Ava rolled her eyes and turned back to the lecture.

  Captain Murphy, who’d be going along as one of the medics, sat in the chair to Ava’s right. He whispered to her, “You walked right into that one.”

  Ulysses continued, “Provided all goes well, you should be at the safe house before sunset the day after tomorrow. The safe house is a large warehouse in Bastrop, about thirty miles outside of Austin. You’ll stay there and rest up for the operation. Everyone will need to be in position to commence their respective attacks at exactly 4:00 on the morning of July 5th. The 4th is a big drinking holiday for the SJLs as well as the soldiers in Markovich’s regular army, so hopefully many of them will still be inebriated when you strike.

  “The local resistance will be providing meals and support for you while you’re at the safe house. Also, if you get in trouble, they’re all you’ve got in the way of backup until the cavalry arrives. And keep in mind, it could be up to 24 hours for Alliance forces to penetrate all the way into Austin. They’ll be coming in from Fort Polk or up from the Gulf. Either way, it’s a long haul through very hostile territory.

  “Keep in mind, you’re not in Texas alone. Blackwell is sending seven other companies. You won’t know anything about them, and they don’t know anything about you. Obviously, the less everyone knows about the other companies, the fewer details they can share if they’re caught. The downside to that is no company can help out the others in case of a jam.”

  Ulysses looked at Barr and took his seat. “I’ll give the floor back to the colonel.”

  “Thank you.” Barr stood. “Any questions?” He pointed to the raised hand in the third row.

  A militia member asked, “How are we getting from Brownsville to the safe house?”

  “Good question,” Barr replied. “We’ve got transportation lined up for you. Some will be traveling in migrant-worker buses, others will be riding in the back of box trucks.”

  Another militia fighter raised his hand. “If those box trucks aren’t air-conditioned, we’ll be in bad shape. The high temperature today will be flirting with 100 degrees. A box truck with no windows and no AC could easily hit 200.”

  “They’ll be climate controlled. But still, dress comfortably, and look poor so not to trip any alarms.” Barr looked around the room. “Any other questions?”

  No one else raised their hand.

  “You’re dismissed. Load up your gear. The plane will be leaving to Biloxi in half an hour.” Barr walked out of the room.

  Ava approached the table where her father and husband were gathering their notes. She put her arms around Ulysses. “I love you, Dad. I know how much you wanted to come, but you’ll be helping out so much by staying here with Colonel Barr. All the various teams will need your expertise, especially if something goes wrong, and stuff always goes wrong.”

  He nodded and hugged her tightly. “I’ll do what I can, but none of the teams will be able to break radio silence until the operation has begun.”

  She kissed him and gave his hand a squeeze. “Yeah, but nothing is going to go wrong until the op starts.”

  “Let’s hope not.” Ulysses smiled.

  Foley put his hand on her arm. “We need to get going—unless you want to stay here and help your dad with tactical coordination.”

  She glared at her husband. “Not a chance, but nice try.”

  “Don’t blame me for offering. One can always dream that their stubborn spouse will see reason.” Foley kept his eyes low as he offered his hand to Ulysses. “We’ll see you soon, sir.”

  Ulysses grabbed his hand and pulled him in close for a hug, a sign that he’d put aside any hard feelings he held in regard to Foley revealing his mental problems to Barr. “Be safe. And take care of my little girl.”

  “Yes, sir.” Foley looked up at him. “I’ll do my best.”

  “Bye, Dad.” Ava waved, grabbed the pack containing her gear and her rifle, then followed Foley out to the tarmac.

  Thursday evening, Ava carried her gear into the warehouse and stretched her neck. She’d spent the previous six hours in a refrigerated produce truck. She was chilled, sore and extremely tired from the arduous journey.

  “We have cots set up for you at the rear of the warehouse.” A man from the local resistance pointed to the back of the building. “A small area is partitioned off for the ladies.”

  “Thank you,” she said wearily, “but I’m with my husband, so I’ll be sleeping in the same bunk space as the guys.”

  Foley smiled at the man and followed Ava to the back. Bravo Platoon had already arrived and most members were sleeping on their cots. Bravo had traveled all together on a single migrant worker bus. Ava tiptoed through the large open area, trying not to wake any of the soldiers from Bravo as she and Foley searched for two cots near the wall.

  Once they found a good spot, she whispered to Foley, “I’m going to get a shower. I feel grubby and I’ll sleep better.”

  Foley dug out his hygiene kit as quietly as possible. “Good idea. Once Charlie Platoon arrives, hot water may be in tight supply.”

  The two of them got cleaned up and returned to the cots where they soon fell fast asleep.

  Ava awoke on the morning of the 4th. Foley was already up and gone from his cot. She stepped into her boots and crossed the empty dorm area. On the other side of the warehouse, a very simple meal of bread, peanut butter and jelly was available on a long fold-out table. She skipped the jelly and made herself a peanut butter sandwich. Next, Ava ladled a black liquid substance into a Styrofoam cup. It wasn’t hot, and it didn’t really smell like coffee, but that’s what the label said, so she drank it. She scanned the round tables in the center of the room until she found her husband, then made her way toward him. “Good morning.”

  Foley sat at a table with seven other soldiers. His face was stressed. “Good morning.”

  She looked at the six men and the female soldier. All seemed worried. “What’s wrong?”

  “Charlie Platoon never showed up.” Foley glanced up at her, then back down to the other people at his table.

  Ava pulled up a chair from the table behind Foley’s. “Where are they?”

  Foley pressed his lips tightly and shook his head. “No one knows. We’re under radio silence, so we can’t call in or out. The resistance has back channels to Barr, so they’ve put a message out that troops from Charlie are missing. Still, even if he knew where they were, Barr couldn’t do much to help them without compromising the greater mission. And it’s not just us, it’s all eight companies at risk if they deviate from the mission.”

  Ava had taken a couple bites of her sandwich but lost her appetite. “Do you think Charlie Platoon was captured?”

  Foley crossed his hands. “We have to proceed under that assumption.”

  “Then that means they could talk. I know they’re all committed, but you saw how far Markovich’s interrogators went on my father. Most people can’t stand that kind of abuse for very long.” Ava looked at the front door of the warehouse, wondering when the regime might raid the location.

  Kyle Thompson, Bravo’s platoon leader, said, “We all went through the same training. Everyone knows how important this mission is. I think they can keep their mouths shut for a few more hours.”

  Ava didn’t want to spread more despair but she hoped Thompson wasn’t underestimating Markovich’s ability to make the soldiers from Charlie talk. “Even if they keep quiet, if they were captured by the regime, Markovich will know an operation is underway.”

  “Maybe not,” Foley replied. “He might assume Charlie was simply a recon team.”

  She didn’t feel quite as optimistic. “Charlie was assigne
d to the level-one facility in the Travis County Jail. It’s probably the most secure facility of the three in Austin. What are we going to do about that?”

  Foley looked at Kyle Thompson. “We’ll dedicate fifteen troops from Alpha and fifteen from Bravo to form a new Platoon. We’ll call it Delta. They’ll have to liberate the jail.”

  Ava’s forehead creased. “That leaves only twenty-five troops each for Alpha and Bravo.”

  Foley nodded at the female soldier sitting at the table. “Jasmin Pierce cross-trained with Bravo and Charlie. She knows the plan for taking the jail. I’m putting her in charge of Delta. She’ll get the others up to speed by tonight. We’ll have to make do with what we have.”

  Ava gritted her teeth. The mission was precariously close to being destined to fail when it had been planned with such a stripped-down roster of troops. But now, the razor-thin margin for error was gone completely.

  The rest of the day was spent by Ava watching the door with her rifle in hand. She watched the seconds tick by until the warehouse was discovered by the regime or Austin Company headed out to face certain death by attempting to invade three separate facilities with far too few fighters.

  After sunset, Ava heard fireworks going off all around. She wondered how many of those were being lit off by resistance members who actually cherished the freedoms represented by the holiday.

  She thought about what good cover the noise of the fireworks would have provided for the mission but saw the wisdom in a pre-dawn raid against troops who would likely be sleeping off the effects of this evening’s revelry.

  “You should try to get some rest.” Foley walked up behind her and massaged her shoulders.

  She took her eyes off the front door only for a second. “Thanks, but I’d never be able to sleep. Even if we knew where Charlie Platoon was, I’d still be too amped up.”