Minus America | Book 5 | Hostile Shores

by Isherwood, E. E.

  The other soldiers were spread out behind other vehicles, rock outcroppings next to the road, and in the mirrored-glass two-story structure attached to their end of the dam. The octagonal visitor center was designed to give excellent visibility to all points of interest around the landmark.

  “Here they come, like the dumbasses they are.”

  Kyla meant to stay hidden, but she had a great view when looking through the tinted glass of the driver’s side door. A black SUV was leading several others as it came onto the straightaway.

  “Hold your ears,” Meechum advised.

  Meechum was the first to fire, and, Kyla realized a second too late, had taken up position so she was the closest to the enemy. She didn’t know if she should complain about the fearless Marine putting her into a dangerous spot or congratulate her for being the bravest person on the defense. She’d decide after the battle was over…

  But her spot was deviously placed. Meechum’s steady fire hit the first SUV ten times in a row, causing it to sputter and turn sideways. Men jumped out the far doors.

  At the same time, Avery’s commandos fired from the glass building, smashing out windows and making it obvious they were up there.

  “They don’t know we’re here, do they?” she asked in a hushed voice while Meechum reloaded. The woman had brought a tin of hundreds of rounds from Avery’s supply.

  “The colonel didn’t think it was wise for me to set up here, but this is something Carthager and the boys talked about in some of their strategy sessions for urban combat. I wanted to try it out.”

  She’d almost forgotten about Carthager. He was last seen wishing her good luck as she boarded a helicopter for the Montauk Lighthouse. From there, she’d lost track of Meechum’s unit. Thus, it didn’t surprise her how Meechum wanted to perform up to Marine standards.

  “I’d say it’s working out perfectly,” Kyla replied, readying her hands to put them back over her ears.

  Meechum shot again, her gunfire joining the chorus of other shooters sending bullets back and forth over the roadway. Kyla heard as much as felt the thumping sounds in her ribcage. A symphony of war rising and falling as if being directed by an unseen conductor.

  A minute later, as if on cue, the entire battle dialed itself down. A lone shot ruined the symmetry. Someone fired from the other side.

  Then it was over.

  “That’s it?” she said with surprise.

  The attackers were not pushing toward them anymore. They’d had their nose bloodied. It did worry her, however, that the quick firefight wasn’t as dramatic as she’d anticipated. The truck had been disabled, but the men had gotten away. The other vehicles had backed up out of sight. It seemed to resolve nothing.

  “They’ll be back,” Meechum said matter-of-factly, giving up looking into her little scope.

  “Are you sure?” she said with hope. “Maybe they’ve had enough. I know I wouldn’t try to attack us again. Not with so many men hidden in this place.”

  Meechum laughed a little. “This is war, dudette. You probe. You scout. You lose a few lives. Then you find the weakness of the enemy and exploit it. The main attack, when it comes, will be fast and deadly. Don’t let your guard down for a second.”

  “That won’t be a problem, I haven’t done that since…we met.”

  Meechum really cracked up. “The face-kick heard round the world.” She scrambled to gather her weapon and the ammo, making Kyla sit up in surprise.

  “Are we moving?”

  The short-haired woman nodded. “Rule six-thousand of warfighting. Never use the same ambush location twice. When they come back, they’ll be looking to test every piece of hard cover they can see, including this one. We need to fall back.”

  “Oh,” Kyla said, not liking the giving up ground part, but not daring to dispute military tactics with a trained killer.

  Colorado Springs, CO

  The sun had fallen behind the bare summit of Pike’s Peak, which threw the western stretches of Colorado Springs into deep shadow, even though it was barely dinnertime. Ted and the others had walked out of the foothills, but they’d regrouped at a clear ridgeline to observe the spectacle to the south.

  Rando was the first to speak. “That was meant for us. You and me. And you people, too.” He pointed to Ted and the escaped prisoners. “Do not forget it!”

  Ted observed the outline of Cheyenne Mountain a few miles to the south. The entrance to NORAD was not visible from their perspective, but a large swath of trees had been knocked down on the eastern side of the mountain, backing up what he already knew. The missiles had crashed into the front entrance of the bunker. By all indications, however, the nuclear fire hadn’t spread too far, nor was there much damage in the southern part of the city. He’d expected Colorado Springs to be an ash heap, based on what he experienced at the point of impact.

  “We must make David pay for thinking he could lock us in there and kill us, okay? Does anyone doubt me on this plan? If so, come up here and be heard!”

  No one moved to dispute Rando. Ted absently wondered if they’d stopped on the hill after seeing there was a steep ravine on one side. Would the dissenter be asked to visit the bottom of said ravine? No matter, none of the Banana Republic folks dared step up to him.

  “Good,” Rando said with finality.

  After the impromptu pep talk, the mood became a lot lighter. Men drank from streams and kept up the frat party vibe. Ted’s people rested in their own area. While looking around, studying faces and noting who had weapons and who did not, Ted made an observation that startled him. “Hey, where’s Tabby?”

  Emily searched the resting hikers. “And the young couple who’s always with her. They’re gone, too.”

  Ted stood up. “What the hell?”

  Jacob came up to him a few seconds later. “I wasn’t going to say anything, but Dwight isn’t here, either. You know, the guy with the bird.”

  “Of course I know him. For how long? Why didn’t you say anything?”

  Jacob shrugged. “That guy’s a dick.”

  Ted was pissed. He wasn’t responsible for everyone, but Tabby had knowledge about the enemy base he desperately needed. If he hadn’t been held up by Rando when exiting the bunker, he might have noticed she wasn’t with them.

  Jacob spoke casually. “Don’t worry. I can get you in. I know the place, too.”

  “How did you know that’s what I needed?”

  The man gave him a sideways glance. “Come on. I’ve seen it on your face since last night. You and the pres—”

  Ted interrupted, to protect her identity.

  Jacob went on. “You and your friend made it clear you’re going to put an end to David and his people. Since me and most of the rest of the prisoners had once been with the Legion, you can’t really trust us. Ergo, you would want the help of a person who was never a willing participant of all that. I think the girl fits the bill, so I’m sorry about her. I didn’t know she was gone. But Dwight was never one of us. He’d be a good guide for you, if he wasn’t completely nuts.”

  “So you are still working to protect David?”

  “No way. I already explained why I didn’t tell you about Dwight. He’s a dick. Any other ramifications from my statement are purely accidental.”

  There wasn’t enough time to go back and look for them. David’s deadline to attack other nations harboring Americans was about to expire and getting to his bunker to stop him was now a planet-wide priority. The lost people were on their own.

  A half-hour later, they walked into a tourist trap featuring a multilayered waterfall with colorful lights enhancing each of the levels. Red water seemed to pour into blue, and then into purple. They walked by a huge gift shop, stepped around groups of tourist clothing on the ground, and then went out onto the parking lot. Ted quietly advised his people to let the cartel men choose their cars first, so they didn’t antagonize them. He was sitting on a bench when several trucks roared off the lot.

  Rando screamed at their taillights
. “Come back here, you bastards!”

  Screeching tires and accelerating engines were his response.

  It seemed Ted’s erstwhile ally was having personnel problems, too.

  Pike National Forest, CO

  The drive through the forest was almost pleasant. Tabby and Dwight were forced to sit in the open bed of the pickup, along with one of the ATVs, while men inside the truck, and in the one driving behind them, made sure they didn’t even think about escape. As if she was going to kick down the rear tailgate, start the ATV, then roar to freedom after a daring jump.

  The imaginary escape played in her head as she passed a long, thin, treeless hole in the forest, cleared of brush and all living things. As they drove a mile or two next to it, she realized it had once been a finger-shaped lake. The mud had dried inside the depression, and all that remained was a small stream of water scouring rocks down the middle of the little valley. It couldn’t have been more than a half-mile to the far side.

  “They destroy dams,” Dwight said in a distant voice. “They destroy everything.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I was there when they did it. I was part of it. The fire was…terrible. But the water was also very bad. They broke a dam in California, then had a party for the Legion men so they could watch the town below get swept away.”

  She rode for half a minute, watching for evidence a dam had been broken.

  Dwight continued. “It happened suddenly, and without warning. A silent stalker from high in the clouds. It came down like lightning and smashed through the concrete and metal of the structure. Seconds later, the water began bursting out the other side of the dam. Then, it was all over. The whole lake drained out.”

  She wasn’t sure the man was speaking the truth until they passed the end of the lake. Sure enough, the remnants of a dam waited for them at what would have been the deepest part of the basin. Now it was a muddy hole with fifty-foot towers of concrete on each end. The middle had been blown out and washed downstream. Large pieces of the dam were spread out in the fields downriver. Nothing living was left standing…

  “They do this everywhere?” she wondered aloud. “Why would they destroy a perfectly good dam? Don’t they realize—”

  He interrupted. “They hate everything touched by America. I didn’t see it at first, but I got my first taste when they killed those men on the bridge. They chanted ‘Free America’ as if we lived in a prison before. Yet I watched it and did nothing. Then I saw it again when people who I thought were my friends made me watch the big dam collapse. To celebrate, we took flamethrowers to the remainder of the town. That’s when me and Poppy had enough. We…fought back.”

  “How?” The man had spouted nonsense time after time while in his cell, but the guy sitting next to her seemed to be a different person. One capable of reason and logic. One who could speak in full sentences.

  She also thought he might give her an idea how to fight the men around them.

  However, before Dwight could say anything, the truck bounced over some rough ground, forcing her to hold onto the side. That alerted her to their arrival at what looked like a busy summer campground. However, everyone was dressed in black. Two-dozen tents, and fifty men, waited for them to pull up.

  There was also a big tractor-trailer loaded with horse-drones.

  “Time to pretend we belong,” she said, inhaling the fresh air once more.

  CHAPTER 12

  Hoover Dam, NV

  “Well, you were right again,” Kyla said, watching the grenades rain down on the same car where she and Meechum had been a half-hour ago. The enemy was still at the end of the road, but they’d sent men to the top of the canyon wall and had gotten above the end of the dam. That allowed them to drop grenades near each of the abandoned cars, as well as into the lobby of the glass visitor center. Fortunately, Avery was as crafty in his defenses as Meechum. No one was in any of those danger zones.

  “I’ll ask you to tell that to my supervisor, if we ever see Carthager again. I want to rub it in his face.”

  “I thought you liked him?” The other woman had never mentioned anything bad about her squad leader.

  “Oh, I do, but we screw around. One-upmanship is a way of life in the Corps.”

  She snickered quietly. “That and tearing guns down and putting them back together.”

  “Yeah, we like to give our weapons lots of love,” Meechum replied dryly. “Keep yourself ready. They’ll make a push this time.”

  The Hoover Dam was curved, so the outside face of the concrete structure faced the lake, and the inside part was where the water drained into the river. The way the water got from one side to the other was through four intake chutes, which were built like upright smokestacks on the lake side. All four had small, round, concrete buildings on top of them where workers could service and monitor the input. Two were attached to the top of the dam by a wide walkway on the western end. Two others and their walkway were on the far side. Meechum explained they would again be able to shoot at the bad guys from a distance, but still retain the option to fall back if and when things got dicey.

  The blue water below was darkened by shadows. The lake itself seem unimpressive as she looked out over the surface. It was trapped between the two sides of the canyon, and it looked like the level had dropped fifty feet or more over the years. A ring of bleached-out rocks contrasted with the rest of the red stones, making it appear a lot like a dirty bathtub.

  The grenade explosions abruptly stopped. Men appeared at the end of the roadway, essentially taking all the territory up to the remains of the overturned car where she’d previously been hiding. They’d snuck in while everyone had their heads down.

  “What are you waiting for?” she wondered quietly.

  “We want them to expose themselves. They’ll have to do it if they want to get inside the dam.”

  Sure enough, men charged from behind the protection of the flipped car and sprinted for the visitor center. That was when everyone on Kyla’s side decided to open fire, except for Meechum.

  A few black-clad enemy men fell in the open ground, but several of them made it into the visitor center. Almost as an afterthought, a few smoke grenades kicked on, obscuring the end of the dam.

  Avery’s crew kept pouring fire into the smoke.

  Still, Meechum didn’t fire.

  “What are you waiting for?” Kyla asked.

  The woman calmly brushed her fingers over her scalp. “Once we get into the action, they’ll know we’re here. I’m waiting for them to sprint for the walkway to this tower. They’ll use it as a defilade from our guys firing at them from the middle of the dam. Then, we’ll chop ‘em in half.”

  She gulped, knowing the situation called for utter brutality.

  The gunfight intensified as it had done before, but this time, it seemed most of the fire was coming from the high cliffs above the roadway. Even Kyla could see there were men running into the visitor center under the protection of those shooters above them. It was almost textbook, she figured, except for those few who got taken down before the smoke appeared.

  A sleek black object shot across her line of view, slamming into the roadway next to one of the blocky elevator entrances in the middle of the dam. Avery no doubt had a defender or two in that location, which explained why they were being targeted now by heavy ordnance.

  “They could use one of those on us,” Kyla said distantly.

  “That’s why warfighting is as much an art as a science. We’re lying in wait for the right moment to spring our trap.”

  “Won’t they come up from below us? They’re going into the dam. You can see them right there.” The smoke blew sideways a little, revealing two men sprinting in the shot-out doors of the visitor center.

  Meechum strained her neck, as if to look outside and below them.

  Kyla figured out she was looking at one of the other four intake towers. From her perspective inside the bunker-like structure, she could not see any connecting tunnels between
them and the dam itself. It was only the walkway at the top.

  Meechum seemed to arrive at her conclusion. “We’re cool, unless there’s a passageway at the very bottom of the dam. Based on the sound of the water spilling into the drain tube, I don’t see how it’s possible.”

  “So, we’re on our own island,” she said, suddenly realizing the implication. “With one way in and one way out…”

  Meechum looked again out the window. “I guess I thought…” The Marine hesitated, which was not fitting for her. “Okay, new plan. Come with me.”

  “We’re leaving?” she bleated.

  “Yeah, I made a mistake, but I can fix it. We’re going to crawl along the walkway and make a run for one of the cars still on the deck. We’ll have plenty of cover to reach the middle of the dam and get into the elevator entrance, as long as we leave before the smoke clears.”

  She followed the Marine out the door of the intake building and crouched low as they slinked along the side of the giant concrete bridge back to the dam. But she caught sight of a laser-like streak of red light coming through the wisps of smoke above them.

  “Meechum, I think they have a sniper or something up there. Look.” She pointed out the special effect.

  The warrior woman popped her head up, checked out the cliff, then looked to where the light was aimed. Finally, strangely, she glanced straight up.

  “This is bad, isn’t it?” Kyla was an expert at reading Meechum’s body language.

  “If it were one of ours, we’d use a laser to guide in some heavy munitions. A glide-bomb like an AGM 1-5-4 is possible, or, bigger yet, a bunker buster like a GBU-28. I have no idea what those guys might have stolen, but either would take out the concrete around the elevators, or even this concrete box we’re in.”