“Rads?”
“Bull’s eye, Sarge.”
“Are you returning?”
“Negative. we’re going to see how many there are.”
“You sure you want to do that?”
“Becoming less sure every second based on the sound of it, but it’s too late now. Will call when clear.”
After a few tense minutes, Will came on the radio again. “Ranger Hill, do you read me?”
Jerry Michaels keyed his mic. “We’ve got you. What’s the verdict?”
“TGG has at least a hundred heavily armed rads headed their way, unless they turn south. If they do, then you have a hundred rads coming to visit.”
Jack came on the radio. “Can you keep tabs on them from a distance?”
“Roger that. Stan’s got them in the binoculars right now.”
“Roger. Good work. Once you ascertain their destination, return to base.”
“Roger that.”
“Sergeant, this is Stark,” he said in a quiet voice.
“Read you.”
“Hate to heap bad news on bad, but Lima-Eleven is empty. The silo door, the launch closure or whatever it’s called, is gone and half buried in a field like the other one we looked at. There’s no work being done. There are a few GGs nearby. Looks like they have four or five Low Ones chained together filling sandbags and some others taking them west. For the defensive line I’m guessing.”
Jack cursed silently at the news. “Roger. Sorry to hear that. We’ll have to come up with something else. Can you see how many men TGG has over there?”
“Not from here, but we have pretty decent terrain to move in and take a peek. Will call when we know something.”
Jack pulled out his map and looked it over.
“Jack, you still on the air?” came Will’s voice into Jack’s earplug.
“Roger.”
“The rad force looks like they have moved through the crossroads located about a mile and a half north of Ranger Hill. They might be veering southeast, but it’s hard to see.”
“Traipse, it’s Tanner. Will’s right. We can see them passing through there now. We are looking north up the road… what’s left of it. I’d say they’re headed for the silo.”
“Roger,” Jack said. “You mind staying put in case Stark and Manuel need help?”
“Not at all. We’ll move back into the trees and sit tight.”
“Jack, Will here. We’ll move toward Al and Jim’s position.”
“Roger that.”
“Hold on, we have some more rads coming from the west. Fifteen or twenty it looks like. We’ll wait till they’re gone.”
A few minutes later Will called again. “Good news, bad news, Jack.”
“Send it.”
“Good news is we overheard the rads talking. What they said is the bad. There are more rads coming into the area. Said something about reclaiming something from the heathen.”
That sounds familiar, he thought. “They’re rads. You can guess what that something is.”
“You want us to keep watch up here?”
“Negative. If the rads and TGG start tangling with each other, I don’t want you guys hung out up there. Move to Dunn and Tanner’s location.”
“Nice to know you care. Moving.”
The bark and chatter of weapons fire rang out a few minutes later.
“Ranger Hill, Tanner here. Looks like the rads walked into the GGs line. We can see some of them from our point. More GGs running into place.”
“This is Manuel. Can you hear me?” he said in a whisper. The gunfire in the background made it clear he was close to the fight.
“This is Jack, we hear you.”
“I’m on the southern end of their defensive line. The fight is north of here. It looks like fifty to sixty GGs. Jim was right, the rads walked up on the line. A few of them got dropped, the rest pulled back to the rail bed and a feeder creek. It appears the GGs line runs along the east side of the same creek our bridge crosses. Part of the line overlaps onto the opposite bank, but I don’t have a good view of it.”
“Sounds like you are plenty close. Pull back and rejoin at Dunn and Tanner’s position. I’m coming up with a few Rangers.”
“Jack, Stark. We’ll move south and come in from the east once Terry gets clear.”
“Roger. Be careful.”
Jack looked at Beth and saw her getting her gear together. She knew she would be going forward without being told.
He decided to leave Thomas and Jerry at the hill and take the remainder to Dunn’s location. “I’ll send some of the recon teams back as soon as they return,” he said.
“What’s wrong with us?” Thomas said with a gesture at Jerry.
Jack chuckled. “He’s commo. You’re the guy who has to run two M-Sixties and ammo to us if it hits the fan.”
“Well, all right. I’ll keep Jerry out of trouble.”
“Bring your long-range rifles if you got’em,” Jack said to those accompanying him.
They moved at a brisk pace and covered the distance quickly. They arrived before the recon teams.
The fight between the rads and TGG had lessened in intensity. Several shots were fired every second, but neither side was moving on the other. Jack looked the area over with his binoculars.
“I’d imagine the rads are trying to pin down where TGG’s line is,” Al Dunn whispered. “That’s what I would do.”
“I doubt you would have blundered into their line like that,” Jack said as he scanned the GGs line. “Half of their positions aren’t camouflaged yet.”
“That’s a lot of rads,” Jim Tanner said offhandedly.
Jack glared through his optics. “It is.” How the hell do we deal with this?
The radio buzzed. “This is Stark. We’re over the creek, in the trees, and headed west. Would appreciate it if you didn’t shoot us.”
Tanner replied. “We’ll keep an eye and an ear out for you.”
“Saw something before Terry rejoined me. When the shooting started, all but one of the GGs guarding the Low Ones filling sandbags went to the west to join the fight. One of the prisoners distracted the guard and another prisoner bashed him in the head with a shovel. Those two had already slipped their chains, so they helped the others ditch theirs and took off, scattered. Don’t know where they went, but we might keep an eye out for them. Other than a shovel, they’re not armed. Didn’t even bother to take the guard’s rifle. I waved at them, but I don’t think they saw me. I’m pretty sure they were worried about the gunfire.”
“We’ll keep watch. Are you clear of the fight?”
“Roger. No rounds coming this way just now.”
“Tanner, this is Will. We’re closing on you from the west. We’d appreciate it if you didn’t light us up either.”
“Gotcha. We’ll keep an eye out for you too.”
“Look west, you’ll see us.”
Fifty yards away the cousins were leaning around a pair of large trees.
Tanner waved them in with a disgusted look on his face. “Sneaky bastards,” he said quietly. “I hate it when they do that.”
Jack moved back into the trees a bit and met the pair as they drew close. “Any troubles getting back?”
“No,” Will said. “Had to let another rad group go by. Twenty or so. We picked up a little more chatter. They are coming in from different places, so we’ll have to be careful about running into them. I tried to talk Stan into asking them for a timeline and numbers, but he wouldn’t do it.”
Jack nodded. “Stan has always had a lack of dedication.”
Stan laughed. “Rangers. Bastards, each and every one of them.”
“Speaking of bastards, I need a couple of sneaky ones to go on a scouting expedition.”
“Oh yeah?” Stan said. “With you?”
Jack nodded. “I need to float an idea past everyone first. If it’s a go, we’ll head out first thing tomorrow.”
“It’ll float, whatever it is. I’m in. It’ll be like
old times. Three Rangers against who the hell knows how many bad guys. Are we going to sneak in and shoot our way out like we did at Kings Town?”
Jack gave Stan a scowl. “Let’s hope not. We’re going to recon Lima-Zero-One.”
“The Launch Control site? Sounds hazardous. We’re still in.”
Will raised an eyebrow. “We?”
“How else am I going to keep an eye on you, cousin?”
“Keep an eye on me?” Will looked at Jack. “I’ll have to go with you, Jack. Stan’s, well, you know.”
“Yes. Good to have you aboard.”
Stan pointed at Jack and his cousin. “All aboard the Traipse Train. Stan and his two sidekicks venture into the underground lair of… I’ll finish it once we see what we’re dealing with.”
Stark and Manuel joined the group a few minutes later. Jack planned on sending Stark, Manuel, and the Dandos back to Ranger Hill, but Terry had his scoped bolt-action rifle with him, and seeing how many others were similarly equipped and knowing why, asked to stay on.
Before the trio left, Jack spoke with the group. “We cannot deal with the numbers we’re seeing. Fifty plus GGs. Over a hundred rads. We know there are more rads coming in and it’s a safe assumption there are more GGs around. We number fourteen. That’s some crooked numbers.”
“We aren’t leaving, are we, Sarge?” Baker asked.
“That depends. I have an idea, but you may not like it. I’m not going to order anyone to take part, but we have to work together. A few opt out, we can’t pull it off.”
“Whatever you have in mind, I’m in, Jack,” Sean said. “If they’re close to getting the warhead from the silo, I don’t think we can wait for help and I don’t think we can back off either. If you got something, let’s go with it.”
Jack knew exactly what Sean was doing. His vote of confidence carried weight with the other Rangers.
“I agree with Ranger Trahearn,” Baker said. “I’m in.”
“We came here to do a job. I don’t like leaving things undone,” Beth said.
“Cooper’s right. I’m with you, Jack,” Hal Daley said. “Let’s hear it.”
The rest of the team echoed the sentiment.
“We’re in,” Sean said. “What’s the plan?”
Jack smiled. “That is a good question. We need to get the rads and TGG to do their share.”
Jack received several confused looks.
Al smiled and nodded. “Okay. How do we do that?”
“We help them kill each other.”
He gave Jack a perplexed look. “And how do we do that?”
“The fight is four hundred, five hundred yards beyond these trees. We use long-range fire from well back inside the tree line to help whichever side looks like they are losing. It won’t be easy.”
“Or safe,” Baker said with a smile.
Hal slapped Baker on the shoulder. “If you wanted a safe job, you picked the wrong occupation, bucko.”
“Corporal Sierra said that a time or two during training.”
Sean smiled. “It’ll go in the book if we ever get around to it.”
“I like it, Jack,” Hal said. “Peck at them from the sidelines. Two questions: what do we do if no one is winning or losing? And, what do we do if they figure out what we’re doing?”
“I think you already know the answers. If they’re killing each other off evenly, we’ll spectate. If they come after us, we run for Ranger Hill and fight from there.”
“Sounds good, but how do we find out where the damned missile is?” David Stark said.
“I’ll take Will and Stan to Lima-Zero-One in the morning and we’ll see if we can find out. If that doesn’t pan out, I say we recon the next two or three closest silos. If that fails, we get out of the Blastlands and see about ambushing the GGs on their way home… if they make it out of here.”
“That’s good, Jack.”
Jack canted his head. “It might sound good now, but when it starts to unravel you might think different. Be ready to improvise.”
“C’mon, Jack,” he said with a grin. “Give us a little credit. The fiddler changes the tune, we change dances. We’re Rangers.”
The Rangers selected their firing positions carefully, placing themselves thirty or forty yards deep into the trees and ensuring there was but a narrow path between as many trees as possible before their bullets exited the woods. This helped mask the sound and made seeing muzzle blast difficult, if not impossible. Sean, Beth, and Hal did not have rifles equipped with optics and would serve as security, watching the flanks of the Rangers. Those firing would do so sparingly and only when the fighting between the rads and TGG was heavy so they might avoid detection.
The Rangers could see rads coming in from the west and moving into positions along their line. They knew it was just a matter of time before something happened. They didn’t have to wait long.
At the sound of a whistle, the rads broke cover and moved toward the Greater Good’s line, many of them carrying makeshift ladders for crossing the creek. Their numbers had swelled, but if the GGs had properly prepared their fighting positions, it was doubtful the rads would be successful. Machine gun fire erupted from the defensive line, followed soon by rifle fire from both sides.
“We have movement right!” Sean hissed from his position on the east end of the Ranger line. “Distant, but closing.”
Baker signaled he would join Sean, and crawled toward him at Jack’s signal of approval. The two crawled out to a large tree and waited.
Jack divided his attention between the battle ahead and the possible threat to the right. He carried a TROG cross slung over a shoulder, an earpiece in place to hear any incoming broadcasts. Jack could see through his binoculars that the rads advance ended before it went very far. Many of them lie dead or writhed on the ground because of wounds. Many others were pinned down by the GGs withering fire while others crawled back to their starting points.
He rose and moved between shooters, telling each to “Target GG machine guns and anyone you might believe to be a leader.”
. . . . .
To Jack’s rear, the pair of Rangers watching the right heard the sound of branches cracking, footfalls, and leaf litter rustling.
“Maybe it’s some of those guys David mentioned,” Baker whispered.
“Probably, but be ready in case it’s not,” Sean said.
Three men burst through the brush twenty-five feet from the two Rangers. They stopped suddenly when they saw them, one of them slipping in the leaves and falling. Sean could tell they considered running, but realized the risk if he and Tony were to fire on them.
Rifle fire from the other Rangers echoed through the woods.
The men’s shoulders slumped and they raised their hands, one after dropping his shovel. “We’re not armed,” said the man whose shovel now rested at his feet.
“It’s okay. I think we’re on your side,” Sean said.
The men looked confused.
“We’re not radiation worshipers or Greater Good,” Baker said.
Sean nodded. “We’re Freelands Rangers.”
“We’ve heard of you,” the man said. “The GGs spoke of you. They said we should be wary.”
“That so? Are you what they call Low Ones?”
The man snorted. “Not anymore. Not again either,” he said with an edge to his voice.
“The Greater Good don’t run things here.” Sean looked at Tony. “Get Jack on the TROG and tell him what we have.” He stood and pointed at the trio. “Grab your shovel and come with us. We’re in range to catch stray rounds from the fight. We can get you some food and water.”
“And what if we don’t want to?” asked one of the other men.
“Then I wish you luck and suggest you go southwest until you’re clear of the fight, then head west until you’re out of the Blastlands.”
“This place, that’s what it’s called?”
Sean nodded.
“We’re not prisoners?” asked the third man.
>
“No. I don’t know what we’d do with prisoners anyway. You’re a long way from safe and look like you could use some help. If you want it, we’ll do what we can. If not… well, I’d suggest again that you leave this place.”
The three men looked at one another. “What do you think, Harry,” one asked.
“I think we have little choice but take him up on his offer of help.” He bent over and picked up the shovel. He looked at Sean. “We’ll go with you. Thanks.”
Sean smiled. “You took down a GG with that?”
“Yes. You saw it?”
“No, another Ranger did. Good enough for him. Follow me,” he said with a gesture. “Name’s Sean Trahearn.”
“I am Harold Parkes.”
Sean did a double-take. “Parkes? You related to Frank Parkes?”
“I had an uncle by that name, but I haven’t seen him since I was small.”
“This uncle, your family, come from what was Idaho?”
Harold was taken aback. “That’s right.”
Sean shook his head. “I don’t have the time to explain, but there’s a hell of a tale you’ll want to hear.”
. . . . .
Jack ordered the Rangers to cease-fire. The Ranger fire had made a difference, allowing the rads to fall back to their positions of cover while eating into the GGs numbers.
“Man, this is some cold-hearted work,” Al Dunn whispered to Hal who was prone only a few feet away.
“Maybe so, but imagine all those guys out there coming at us,” Hal said. “The fewer there are if and when that happens, the better.”
“I agree, it’s just that the sorry bastards don’t even know what’s happening. Makes me feel like we’re baiting game animals.”
“Game animals don’t kidnap people like rads. They don’t chain people up and make them pull carts for hundreds of miles. There’s the difference.”
“You’re right about that.”
Tony Baker had radioed he and Sean had stopped three escapees from TGG. Jack could see them leading the men farther into the trees in the direction of Ranger Hill. He cut through the trees to join them.
The Blastlands Saga Page 61
