BlackStar Mountain

by T C Miller

  Ted was awake in an instant. “Should we go down there?”

  “I’ll call the CP first...See if anybody checked in late. Could be tents poles they’re carrying. CP-1, Forward Point-1, come in.”

  Static was the only reply. “I repeat, CP-1, FP-1, over.”

  More static.

  “What’s goin’ on?”

  “Can’t say,” Bob answered. “Can’t all be sleeping...Let’s go down to the camp.”

  “Right behind you, Boss,” Ted replied, as they both started down the hill in a low crouch.

  The nearly moonless night worked to their advantage as they used nightvision to move within a hundred feet of the closest tent. Hand signals kept them together and they were soon at the edge of a circle of tents gathered around a dying fire.

  A shower of sparks flared up in the goggles as somebody stepped into the edge of the fire ring to avoid a log that had been dragged up for seating.

  Onkst motioned for Belk to move up from one side while he circled around to the other. They soon had him trapped between them. The stealthy figure reached one of the tents and raised his rifle to fire into it. Ted shot him in the head with a round from his suppressed MP-4 and the gunman fell onto the tent.

  A muffled voice inside the tent softly spoke, “CP, this is Dog, come in.”

  The phrase was repeated after a pause.

  Ted saw the point of a knife appear at the back of the tent as the occupant sliced through the fabric. A crouching figure came out of the opening pistol in hand.

  “Don’t shoot! It’s Onkst.”

  “Gunny, that really you?”

  “Been awhile.”

  “Sure has...You alone?”

  “Belk’s here.”

  “Don’t know him...This hombre by himself?” He pointed to the body laying across his tent.”

  “Doubt it...Probably sent in to soften things up.”

  “How you wanna play this?”

  “You got nightvision?”

  “In the tent, under him.”

  “Dig it out while we cover you. Bad guys may be listening in on the radio...Move to Comm Two.”

  “Good thinking...changing now.”

  They all adjusted the frequency and whispered a radio check.

  Dog crawled out of the tent a minute later wearing a nightvision setup. “Looking good, Gunny,” he spoke softly into the throat mike.

  “Dog, it’s your op...” Onkst whispered.

  “Rather you lead...More experience.”

  “Suit yourself. We’ll do a three-point cover focused on the trail...Figure that’s where they’ll come from. Ted on my right...Dog on point. I have one Claymore...Since you have point, why don’t you place it.”

  “Damn, you brought the good stuff.”

  Dog took the mine and moved to the edge of the camp, trailing the detonation wire as he went. He poked the unfolded legs into the ground after aiming for optimal coverage of the likely path attackers would take and found cover behind a tree.

  Licia heard whispered voices outside the tent she shared with her new best friend.

  “Psst, Star, wake up.”

  A sleep-soddened voice murmured after the second try, “Go ‘way...wanna sleep.”

  “Wake up now...Something’s wrong.”

  She shook her friends shoulder hard and a tousled head finally emerged from the sleeping bag.

  “How long I been asleep?”

  “Not long...But, I hear voices...sound worried.”

  “Go back to sleep...Dog’ll let us know if there’s a problem...”

  “Or maybe he doesn’t want a dozen panicked teens running around.”

  “True...What should we do?”

  “Get dressed, for a start...Then I’ll poke my head out.”

  Licia was already pulling a sweatshirt over her head. She grabbed her jeans and squirmed into them from a sitting position in the small space. Socks were next, then hiking boots.

  Star followed suit and they were dressed in a few minutes.

  “Bet my hair looks like crap,” Star mumbled and was shushed by her friend.

  “Be quiet till we know what’s going on...”

  “Okay...Sure are grumpy.”

  “Not grumpy...scared!”

  “Really?”

  “There’re things I haven’t told you...”

  “Like what?” Star was now wide awake.

  “Not now...” Licia hissed.

  “You’re scaring me.”

  “Sorry...Long story short, there are guys after me.”

  “Who?”

  “Later...promise.”

  A small stick cracked outside the tent. Licia pulled the zipper down far enough to identify the person outside.

  “Uncle Bob? What’re you doing here?”

  “No time,” Onkst said in a soft voice. “Stay put till we figure it out.”

  “Okay...” She pulled the zipper closed.

  “Who’s that?” “Uncle Bob...”

  “Your uncle’s here?”

  “Not my real uncle...He protects me.” Licia turned the small, battery-operated lamp off. Star took her hand as they shivered and waited.

  BSOG OPERATIONS CENTER

  CHEYENNE MOUNTAIN STATION

  “Where’s Benson?” asked Bart.

  “Called in sick,” Nora replied.

  “From what?”

  “Didn’t say...Hung up before I could ask.”

  “Try to recall her, anyway. Although, I don’t know what she or anybody else can do...Bad guys’ll watch their six...Here’s the deal...Mountain’s under attack by a small force...”

  Jake interrupted, “Not that small anymore...Got a report the road into the mountain’s blocked by two semis pulled across it...Security forces exchanging gunfire with an unknown number of perps who are well-equipped...Took out the first responding vehicles with LAWS rockets.”

  “We know who they work for?”

  “No, sir...No uniforms...Nondescript vehicles...Using a variety of weapons from a number of countries.”

  “Mercs...They breach the blast door?”

  “Didn’t have to...First attackers jammed a stepvan in it. Anybody can waltz right in if they get past the guards that are left.”

  “Or, if they’re already in. We’re a small team coming up against an unknown number of assailants with who-knows-what kind of gear. All we have are light weapons...I miss anythin’?”

  ‘“bout covers it, sir.”

  “Way I see it, we can do an Alamo and fight to the death...or vacate the premises.”

  Bart thought of the son who had almost disappeared from his life. “Can’t see throwin’ your lives away. Cameras are dark and don’t know what we’re facin’...Destroy all classified material and block the door to slow them down.

  “We’ll escape through the ventilation tunnel...circle around and help out front. Jake, Jay and Seth, help me barricade the door while Nora, and Joanna destroy the files. Cover us, Carl, in case they break through the wall.”

  In a matter of minutes, desks, consoles and storage cabinets were piled against the hidden door that led to the outer office.

  The women donned safety glasses and rubber aprons and began pouring bottles of acid into filing cabinets and computers to destroy every trace of the clandestine team.

  They finished to the sound of pounding on the wall.

  “Looks like they figured out where we went,” Bart remarked. “Time to hit the road.”

  Joanna already had the door to the ventilation shaft unlocked. They rushed through it while Bart covered them. He closed the door behind him and ran to the next door. The others had already gone through while Jake held it open.

  They repeated the sequence until they were in the section that held the fake mountainside cover. Joanna entered the code and the door rolled aside on its tracks as the smell of fresh mountain air rushed in. They stepped out onto the concrete platform that looked down into the steep canyon.

  “Looks like a dead-end,” Nora noted.<
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  “That’s the best part, Mama,” Joanna said. “We know a way out and the perps won’t.”

  “Have a feeling they will...Been pretty lucky, so far.”

  “More than luck...” Bart said. “Seem to know a lot more’n they should.”

  Joanna turned the switch to close the cover while Jake pulled the climbing gear from behind a rock. Jake and Joanna donned the climbing harnesses and hooked carabiners over the safety line.

  “We could transfer the harnesses one at a time, but that’d take too long,” said Bart. “Best way is if Jake and Joanna each escort a person over and one comes back with the harnesses. Take Nora over and come back for Jay and Carl while I cover.”

  Nora led Joanna across the treacherous rock face. Her foot slipped and Joanna slid her boot underneath to support the older woman.

  “Thanks, Baby.”

  “No sweat, Mama.”

  Jake followed with Jay in front of him. They had only gone a few steps when Jay lost his footing. Jake grabbed his arm.

  “Whoa, there, what’s wrong?”

  “These oxfords...Should wear boots like everybody else.”

  “Well, make a note for the next time we’re being pursued across a rock face by guys with guns. For now, I’ll place my boot against the rock like Joanna’s doing. Step right above it while I steady you.”

  “Thanks...I owe you.” said Jay. They moved slower than the women had, but were soon across the sheer fifteen hundred foot drop into the canyon below.

  “Slip off your harness,” he said to Joanna. “I’ll go back while you three figure out our next move.”

  She handed him the webbed gear. “Be careful,” she whispered softly in his ear.

  He nodded and traveled back to the platform in leaps and bounds, using the safety line to steady himself. He tried to give the harness to Bart, who pushed it away.

  “Take Carl over and bring back the rig.”

  “Your call.”

  Carl adjusted the harness and pulled it on.

  “Come on,” said Jake. “Won’t take the bad guys long to break through those doors.”

  They got to the other side and Carl removed the harness to give to Jake, who got about halfway back when the safety cable went slack. The two locknuts closest to Bart had broken away from the rock face and the cable swung back and forth like a pendulum. Jake clung to the cable and hoped the remaining three would hold.

  “Problem, boss...” Jake grunted.

  “Understatement...Can you work your way back to the other side?”

  “What about you?”

  “Just have to get over without the cable...Won’t have to worry about the perps usin’ it.”

  Jake gingerly moved away on the safety line to the other side of the crevasse.

  Bart was about to step out onto the rock face when the concrete platform vibrated. A split-second later the fake door blew outward in a rush of smoke and debris and missed him by a scant two feet.

  It fell into the canyon below, clattering and clanging as it bounced off boulders. He had leaned his rifle against the door and the weapon followed it into the ravine.

  The concrete platform had a crack where it joined the face of the mountain that was slowly widening. The cloud of smoke began to slowly dissipate and three figures cautiously moved out onto the slanted platform. Bart withdrew his forty-five and fired at them. They scrambled back inside the gaping entrance to the ventilation shaft.

  Bart holstered the weapon and started across the rock face as a figure peered out and fired a round that missed by a matter of inches and ricocheted past with an eerie whine.

  The enemy leaned out again and prepared a second shot when he saw Jake aiming at him. He withdrew in a flash as a round careened off the rock behind him. Bart nodded a thank you.

  Jake pointed to the concrete platform. Large cracks appeared in a dozen places and began to grow.

  Bart almost lost his footing as the ledge shifted and sent tremors through the rock he clung to with his fingertips.

  Another combatant emerged from the smoke and was about to fire when a chunk of the platform thrust upward and knocked him off balance. He started clawing his way along the slab to safety and barely made it back, helped by hands that pulled him into the mountain.

  Bart closed his eyes and silently thanked God for giving him strength and perseverance. The echoing sounds of concrete and rock landing in the canyon slowly faded.

  “You okay?” Jake called out.

  “Think so, just waiting to see what his friends are gonna do.”

  “No worry there,” Jake answered. “Angle’s too extreme for a good shot...Power pedestal and its mounting are providing pretty good cover. They step out onto the platform now and they’ll bite the dust.

  “Tell me that pun was intentional,” Bart said with a grin.

  “Pun?”

  “Never mind...Gonna have to join all y’all real fast...Think the explosion loosened this rock face. Throw me a line.”

  Jake pulled the safety cable up and attached one of the harnesses to the end. It took a half-dozen tries, but he finally swung it over far enough that Bart could catch the webbing in his fingers.

  He carefully donned the harness and continued working his way over the slippery rock face. His strong fingers found purchase in the rock and he had closed half the fifty foot distance when a low rumble vibrated through the rock. He hugged the mountain and waited while the rest of the concrete platform broke free and slowly slid and tumbled into the canyon.

  He paused to allow the rock to settle and glanced down into the ravine. “Damn, son...Not a ride I want to take...”

  “Me neither...now what?”

  Bart scrambled across the remaining rock. “For a start, pull that safety cable down...Don’t want them using it.”

  Jake released the cable and watched as it snaked its way down the rock face.

  “Everybody in that cave and out of sight...case the bad guys figure out a way to fire on us.” Bart ordered.

  “Actually, Colonel, it’s an old mine Jake and I found,” Joanna noted once they were inside.

  “Old mine? Any way out?”

  “Don’t think so...Matter of fact, it’s kinda hard to even get into...Move toward the back...I’ll show you.”

  They turned on pocket flashlights and shone them on the back wall.

  “Thought you said there was a mine entrance.”

  “Up there in the corner.” She pointed her flashlight ten feet up the wall.

  “We’re supposed to fit through that?”

  Jake answered, “Actually sir, don’t know if I can fit through it and I’m a lot smaller than you. So far, Joanna’s the only one who’s been in there. We didn’t try to widen it, since there’s no way of knowing how stable that old rock slide is.”

  “Tell me again why we want in there?”

  “Crates of weapons and ammo on the other side.”

  “From when, the Civil War?”

  “No, sir...Vietnam-era...C-rations, old fatigues, but also, a coupla boxes of Claymores...Crate of M16s...four wooden boxes of ammo and a couple of shoulder-mounted rockets.”

  “Tell me you’re not jokin’...”

  “No, sir...But getting them out through that small entrance may be a problem.”

  “We’ll see if we can solve that problem,” Bart replied. “Start by carefully diggin’ out the openin’. Two people at a time up there with everybody else near the mouth of the cave, in case the ceilin’ falls in. Jake and Carl, you start...then Jay and I’ll spell you.”

  Jake clambered up the slope to the top and began carefully pushing dirt and small rocks from the shallow access to the mine. He pushed the material through his legs and Carl shoved it further down the slope.

  The centuries-old dust formed a cloud around them while they worked and they sneezed often to clear it.

  Jake retrieved a bandanna from one of his deep BDU pants pockets and tied it around his face while Carl pulled his T-shirt neck over his nose.
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  “Don’t know how those old miners did it,” Carl mumbled and coughed.

  “Maybe that’s why they died young...”

  “That and claim-jumpers...Not to mention bad whiskey.”

  Jake tugged on a rock the size of a beach ball and streams of dust began falling from the ceiling.

  “Maybe I should leave this side alone and work over there,” he said.

  “Good thinking.”

  They shifted their attention to the other side of the opening and enlarged the entrance to the width of most office doors when Bart and Jay tapped them on the shoulder to relieve them.

  “Good progress, y’all,” Bart noted. ‘“nother ten or fifteen minutes...should be able to get in there.”

  It was twenty minutes more of digging and watching the edges of the opening before Bart was satisfied.

  “Feel like that’s big enough to get us in and get whatever’s worth bring out,” he said.

  “Want me to go first?” Jake offered.

  “No, I’ll go...Case it caves in. Y’all move further down, so you can get out if it does.”

  They retreated a few steps.

  “All the way down and that’s an order.”

  They obeyed and watched as their boss slowly disappeared through the opening. Small streams of dust and dirt filtered down from the ceiling, but stopped after a few seconds.

  They could see Bart’s flashlight beam moving around on the other side and his head and shoulders reappeared.

  “See what you meant...Sorta like a mini-armory in here. Gonna need some help getting some of these crates out...Carl, come on in.”

  “Yes, sir,” Carl answered as he clambered up the steep slope and through the opening.

  Jake and Jay were right behind him and started passing equipment and weapons down to the two women and Seth.

  Joanna was stacking the equipment next to the passageway out to the canyon when she heard a noise. She retrieved her weapon and moved toward the entrance to the mine.

  A few more steps brought her face-to-face with an intruder holding a rifle close to his body. He was peering into the mine, squinting to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. Joanna placed two rounds into his chest. He stumbled backward, tripped over a rock and fell down the mountain side.

  Joanna peeked out and quickly withdrew. Three more figures were carefully picking their way across the treacherous rock face while the last two waited on the other side to cover them.