Earthfall (Book 2): Earthfall 2 [The Mission Continues]

by Knight, Stephen

  The rig’s good, man. We’re out in the field at zero-six-hundred tomorrow. Get some sleep.

  Minutes seemed to stretch on for hours, and hours seemed to contract into minutes. But worry and concern weren’t enough to foil the frailties of humanity. Finally, Jim Laird fell into a deep sleep.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

  The two ATVs couldn’t charge through the night on any of the roads, as there was a chance they could be under surveillance. Amanda elected to take a series of trails which would wind and wend to the north while driving using night vision gear. Aside from getting out of the immediate area, there was no rush to deliver Leona to her eventual destination, so she elected to pursue a more conservative course that would hopefully take them far away from the intruders that were tightening the noose around Sherwood.

  She allowed the two men to lead the small convoy, hanging back about fifty feet behind them. Leona sat silently beside her in the ATV as its electric motor whined away. The ride was bumpy, as the trail was rutted from rain and the winter run off. The night vision goggles displayed everything before her in a dull monotone world of gray and green, but the devices delivered excellent performance as they augmented the starlight from the sky above and turned it into a visual picture. Amanda knew that Leona’s visor displayed even greater fidelity, and she was counting on the woman from Harmony Base to scan the area for any threats while she drove.

  “So where are we headed?” Amanda asked finally.

  “North and then northeast,” Leona replied.

  “Okay, I’ll rephrase that: where are you headed?”

  “There’s a reservoir just south of the Ochoco National Forest. You know it?”

  “Sure. It’s called Lake Merwin. Used to be a great place for bull trout and salmon. Why did you guys pick that place to link up?”

  “Simple physical feature, should be easy to find even without navigation systems,” Leona said. “It’s easier to navigate to specific sites that are hard to miss.”

  Amanda grunted. “All right, well ... chances are good the bad guys know about it, too. It’s a fairly open area, and there are roads running around the entire lake. They’re in pretty good shape, considering.”

  “We obviously didn’t know there was an enemy formation in the area when we were planning the mission,” Leona said. “How long until we get there?”

  “Not until tomorrow night.”

  Leona paused for a long moment. “It’s not really that far away.”

  “We’re only going to travel at night, and the ATV ahead of us has a battery that’s starting to go bad—it doesn’t hold a full charge any longer. So we’ll have to stop and deploy solar panels to recharge it so we can make the last leg.”

  “Why didn’t Buchek give up an ATV without battery issues?” Leona sounded annoyed.

  “They’ve all got issues of one sort or another,” Amanda replied. “We gave you the best of the litter, princess.”

  “Princess ... that’s the second time you called me that. Is there a problem?”

  Amanda smiled as she coaxed the ATV over a particularly rough stretch on the trail. “No problem. You just have this kind of entitled air around you.”

  “Oh do I? I hadn’t been aware of that.”

  Amanda smiled again. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure you don’t know anything about it.”

  “Why so combative, Amanda?”

  “Listen, I don’t mean anything by it, it’s just who I am,” Amanda replied. “Do me a favor and keep your eyes out, all right? I realize you’re our passenger here, but do your part to keep us alive.”

  Leona grabbed a handhold as the ATV rocked from side to side as it bumped down the craggy trail. “Sure thing,” she said.

  ***

  They came to a halt before dawn and set up camouflage netting to try and shield the ATVs from sight. Amanda figured it wouldn’t do anything to stop a drone with radar, but it was the best they could manage. She didn’t figure anyone would be breaking their neck checking the area this far north of Sherwood. They’d made fifteen miles during the night, pretty much in a straight line away from the community, so she figured that they were far enough away from the action to avoid being detected.

  Taggart and T-Bone were both skinny, scrawny men, just like everyone in Sherwood. But they were former military men, with Taggart being a retired colonel in the Army and T-Bone a former special operator with the Air Force. They’d proven their mettle during the armed encounters Sherwood had with Beulah in the past, and Amanda knew them both to be solid temperamentally and tactically. She didn’t kid herself, they were actually in charge of getting the Eklund woman to her destination; she was just along for the ride.

  They cast about in the darkness and spread out their sleeping bags. The tents wouldn’t be stood up until they got to the lake. The air was cool and dry, but there was always a chance for rain in the higher elevations so the tents would eventually come in handy. Amanda dug a quick pit on the other side of the campsite, behind a clutch of bushes. They would throw their waste into it tomorrow before they left. Taggart spread out the solar panels and aligned them so they would catch the morning sun once the cloud cover burned off. If it didn’t, then they would remain in the area until the ATV he and T-Bone used could be recharged.

  Amanda watched as Leona looked around the area through her visor. She herself saw nothing untoward through her night vision goggles, but they were older generation devices. She wondered what Leona saw. When she asked her, Leona told her nothing unusual aside from some wildlife that registered through the infrared.

  “That thing work during daylight?” Amanda asked.

  Leona nodded. “Yes. High-resolution daytime video. And radar, which I can’t use.”

  “Cool shit. You going to be giving us anything like that?” Amanda rather fancied the high-tech visor, especially if it was useful during the day. It would save her from having to use her binoculars, and she was all about economy of motion these days.

  “Sure, once we pull them out of supply in Kansas.”

  “Kansas.” Amanda snorted and shook her head. “Can’t believe you people are in Kansas.”

  “I spent some time down that way,” Taggart said. He had a slow cadence to his speech, as if he spoke in a weird type of slow motion. A casual listener might have thought he wrestled with an intellectual disability, but that wasn’t true. He just spoke that way, slow and languid.

  “Oh really,” Leona said, not very interested.

  “Fort Riley,” Taggart continued. “I ran an armor battalion.”

  “Riley was hit direct by a Russian munition,” Leona told him. “It was vaporized.”

  “They shot at us first, right?” This came from T-Bone as he lowered himself to the ground beside Amanda. He had several plastic bags in one hand. Home-cooked food that he’d brought with him. He offered some to Amanda, and she declined. He then offered it to Leona, but she shook her head as she continued scanning the immediate area.

  “They did, after a very strong cyber campaign,” Leona said. “They blacked out a lot of cities by hacking into the power grid. Gave them a slight advantage even though the attack happened in the day.”

  “Why did they do it?”

  “I don’t know. Harmony wasn’t a battlefield command, so we were never in that side of the picture. All I know is that it happened really, really fast, and when it was over there was no one left to ask why it happened.”

  “We were muscling them around a bit with the Ukraine,” Taggart said. “Lots of sanctions. I guess the bite just got too much for them.”

  “Any chance some Russians survived?” T-Bone asked.

  Leona shrugged. “I don’t know, guys. Maybe. I don’t know.”

  “Lieutenant, you should have some food and get some rest,” Amanda said. “Since your gear works in daylight, I’m going to ask you to stand security overwatch for a time tomorrow. We won’t be moving when it’s light out, only when it’s dark, so we’ll all have to pull security.”

 
“I’m fine with that,” Leona said.

  “Then have something to eat, girl,” Taggart said.

  “I’m not hungry, sir. Maybe later.”

  Taggart grunted. “Suit yourself.”

  “Guys, I’ll take the first watch,” Amanda said. “You want the lieutenant to take the next one, or do one of you?”

  “I’m good for second watch,” Taggart said. “We talking four-hour spreads?”

  “Makes sense.”

  “Then I’ll do the second watch, and the lieutenant can do the third. Should be enough to make sure everyone’s rested up before we take off tonight.” Taggart nudged T-Bone. “Good by you?”

  “Good by me,” T-Bone replied.

  “All right, then. That’s settled.” Taggart looked around the site through his own night vision goggles. “Seems pretty quiet. Not much need for the bad guys to be up this far, so we might be good to go.”

  From your lips to God’s ear, Amanda thought.

  ***

  Amanda awoke to the sounds of shouts and gunfire.

  She rolled out of her sleeping bag and snatched up her rifle, looking around the campsite as she did so. All the other bedrolls were empty, including Leona’s. She snatched up her NVGs and scuttled over to the netting that covered the ATVs. They were parked beneath a pine tree, and in the gloomy day it did in fact look a great deal like a bush from a distance. She shouldered her rifle and peered around the netting, trying to figure out what was going on. A bullet cracked right past her as it ripped a chunk out of the pine tree’s trunk, pelting her with wood fragments.

  Taggart was lying facedown twenty feet away, his rifle lying beneath him. T-Bone was downrange, popping off round after round at a score of men who had taken cover amongst the trees. T-Bone was exposed, apparently caught while trying to get to Taggart. As she watched, he jerked and fell to one knee. Then half his face disappeared beneath the force of several bullets striking it at once. The former Air Force man fell over backwards, the bloodied, hamburger-like remains of his face pointed at the cloudy sky.

  The men shouted to one another, continuing to fire at T-Bone’s body, making it twitch and jerk. As if they were enjoying.

  Where the fuck is she—

  She saw Leona then, surrounded by three men with long hair and beards, the skin of their faces hardened from long-term exposure to the elements. Compared to them, Leona did in fact look like a princess. Clean, tall, and regal as the men shoved her ahead of them, laughing. She still wore her uniform, but her trousers were undone. Clearly, she’d been relieving herself when the men attacked. Leona tripped and fell, and one of the men wound up and kicked her in the side, screaming at her to get back on her feet. He held her rifle and pointed it at her helmeted head. Another man—no, a woman, Amanda saw—held her sidearm. Leona glared back at the man who shouted at her and did as he asked, quickly getting to her feet. She then lashed out at him with a quick punch that connected, driving the man’s head back. As he stepped backward, Leona stepped in with him, going for the rifle. Another man lunged toward her and struck her full in the face with enough force to lift her off her feet. Leona collapsed to the loamy ground.

  Amanda pulled in her rifle. She was completely outgunned.

  Moving quickly and keeping low, she opened the netting and reached inside. Her fingers brushed a backpack, still on the ATV’s bed. She yanked off the bungee cord and pulled it toward her. It was heavier than she’d expected, and when it emerged from the darkness beneath the netting, she saw she had pulled Leona’s rucksack out instead of her own. She released her breath in a frustrated hiss and looked back inside the netting. But then the firing stopped, and she heard the men and women shouting back and forth to each other. Time was up.

  Amanda swung into Leona’s rucksack and slipped into the brush, keeping low. There was no time to take one of the ATVs, and she wouldn’t be able to get past the attackers anyway. It was just too big, and there was no chance they would miss something as big as an ATV rolling away from the trees. Her only chance was to escape on foot.

  Which was what she did. She felt shame at abandoning Leona and Taggart and T-Bone, but there was no chance she could save Leona from whatever awaited her any more than she could bring the men back from the dead. She moved as quietly but as quickly as she could, keeping to a half crouch. Her footing was unsteady beneath the weight of Leona’s rucksack. Clearly, the woman was made of sterner stuff than Amanda had given her credit for, because she’d been able to walk sure-footed while carrying the heavy bag on her back. Amanda found the weight almost oppressive, and it made her clumsy and slow. Just the same, she pressed on into the forest, pushing through the brush and around the trees and wading through tall grass. She knew she was leaving a trail, but right now, she needed distance. She could conceal herself for days deeper in the forest, and follow the Metolius River up to Lake Billy Chinook. Once there, she would hike east until she made it through the rotting town of Culver and onward to the Haystack Reservoir. The body of water was nestled between two buttes, which would give Amanda ample opportunity to keep the area under surveillance.

  All she had to do was get there.

  Behind her, she heard voices. Some members of the raiding party had found her trail, and they were pushing into the forest after her. She forced herself to stop and backtrack. Moving toward the sound of voices was nerve wracking, but she found a relatively dense copse of sagebrush that might offer her considerable concealment. As she fell back, she was impressed with the size of the track she’d left behind her. She was getting careless, a combination of fear and the weight of Leona’s ruck on her back. She eased herself into the brush, moving slowly and deliberately. It wasn’t very high, but by lying on her side she was confident it would provide her with enough camouflage to avoid immediate detection. Once the searchers passed her position, she would slide out and move northeasterly at a more careful pace. She settled down and waited, clutching her rifle and wondering if she should use her pistol instead.

  Not long after, she heard the sound of rustling brush. And then, surprisingly, the heavy musk of body odor. Amanda held her breath for as long as she could. While she was no wallflower, one or more of her pursuers absolutely reeked.

  Through the minute gaps in the branches, she saw three people following her trail. They wore camouflage and multicam clothing and carried semiautomatic rifles. They were in no hurry; they moved slowly and methodically. But they remained focused on her track. One of the men passed within twenty-five feet of her hiding place and only glanced at it. Amanda considered waiting until they were past and then going to guns on them. If she were to engage them from behind, she was confident she could take them all down. But if she was wrong, she was too heavily laden to make a rapid escape, and if she were shot or otherwise injured, it would make her continued existence substantially more difficult.

  Let ’em go.

  The group pushed on, passing her hide site. Amanda gave herself a little more time, then slowly eased out of the embrace of the sagebrush. No one else was downrange that she could see, so she slowly moved deeper into the trees, winding her way through more sagebrush and grass. Overhead, sullen clouds continued to reign supreme, casting the day in a deep gloom. She checked her watch. It was only seven fifty in the morning. She had a lot of daylight left, which was both good and bad. Good in that she would be able to see everything and make relatively good time. Bad in that the people hunting her would be offered the same set of circumstances.

  She melted into the trees and wended around them, walking slowly and deliberately. She forced herself to take more difficult paths, in hope that it would deter her hunters from time to time. It seemed to work. While she caught snatches of voices, they never drew near. Soon, she heard nothing at all other than the sounds of nature: the occasional bird call, the wind rustling through trees and brush, the scamper of small rodents through the wiry grasses.

  Emboldened by this, Amanda pressed on and gradually turned toward her original course. Once she found the rive
r, she would parallel it and walk upstream to the lake several miles north. She had some people to meet.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

  Andrews was just pouring himself a cup of coffee when he heard a faint beep come over the monitor speaker. It was the transmit tone that sounded whenever a radio transmitter was triggered, to give the recipient a momentary notice that communication was about to be initiated. He spun toward the command intelligence station where the radios were located in the second compartment. He hurried toward it and slipped on the headset after placing his mug on the shallow desktop that fronted the displays. He heard nothing but the slight hiss of static.

  The door to the rear compartment opened and Mulligan emerged, wearing only a T-shirt and his trousers. As he walked, he instinctively reached out and grabbed for the handholds in the overhead, even though the rig was stationary and had been for days.

  “Something up?” he asked, jerking his chin toward the radio.

  “Don’t know. Heard a tone, but that’s it. No transmission following it.” Andrews touched a button on one of the displays. All the transmissions the rig received were recorded, including the one it had just intercepted. The distant tone sounded again, marred by a light coating of static. Andrews looked at Mulligan and shrugged.

  “That’s it,” he said.

  “TAC one?”

  “Yep.”

  Mulligan considered that for a moment. “Could be our friends hopping around the frequencies. Maybe someone made a mistake. Besides, Lee should be out of range by now.”

  “We don’t know that.”