by Robert Boren
“Oh, crap,” Hendrix said.
“Where?” Nelson asked.
“Brownsville,” Wallis said. “The city is getting shelled from Matamoros.”
“I was afraid of that,” Nelson said. “Damage?”
“They took out the power grid for most of the city,” Wallis said. “Knew right where to hit.”
“Son of a bitch,” Nelson said.
Ramsey’s phone rang. He looked at it. “Hey, guys, it’s Curt. Gather around. I’ll put it on speaker.”
He rushed over by the console and put the phone on the counter. “You hear us?”
“Yeah,” Curt said. “I’ve got the others around me. Sorry, I was driving the Barracuda. That takes both hands.”
“No problem,” Ramsey said. “Nelson and Hendrix are on the line, and Doctor Schultz.”
“Who’s Doctor Schultz?” Curt asked.
“Never mind about that right now,” Ramsey said. “Have you been able to reach the RV Park?”
“No,” Curt said.
“We were rushing back there to check it out,” Eric said.
“Hey, guys,” Wallis said. “The drone is over the RV Park now. Everything looks normal on the video. I see a few people walking around. Mostly it looks like folks are in their rigs for the night.”
“Wait a minute,” Gallagher said. “Look, where those lights are. There’s a bunch of people standing there looking up.”
“I’ll put it on the console,” Wallis said. The picture changed to the night-vision video.
“I see what they’re doing,” Ramsey said. “They’re trying to fix a cell antenna.”
“That explains the phone problem,” Curt said, sounding relieved.
“Okay, so we think they’re safe. There aren’t any enemy hits around there, correct?”
“Not a one,” Kim said. “I’ve been watching the whole time, but with no cell coverage it might not be airtight.”
“Give them a little time to get the cell tower fixed,” Ramsey said. “We have some smart folks in that group. They aren’t acting as if they’re under attack.”
“Okay, then let’s move the focus to your recon mission,” Nelson said. “What’d you find out?”
“It’s not a place we can assault without big losses,” Curt said. “Too spread out, plus they’ve got pretty good night vision. They saw us on the ridge, and started shooting at us.”
“Shit, they’ve got FLIR,” Gallagher said. “Your body heat will show up easily on those. How far out were you?”
“Probably a mile,” Junior said. “Maybe a little further. The short-range app never buzzed us, but the long-range app showed several thousand hits.”
“There’s a lot at the White Sands Visitor’s Center too, and quite a few in Alamogordo,” Eric said. “Not thousands, but a significant number.”
“What’s a significant number?” Ramsey asked.
“Couple hundred at each location,” Eric said. “They’re bunched up in town. Not sure how much they’re controlling there. We should be seeing patrols moving around the town. Nada.”
“Can you tell where the Islamists are inside the air force base complex?” Wallis asked.
“Yeah,” Junior said. “Lots around the barracks area, and in the hangars along the runway in the center of the facility. Some by the supply huts.”
“Supply huts?” Gallagher asked.
“Yeah, they’ve got a bunch of Quonset huts on the west side of the base. We saw a convoy of troop transport trucks pull in there via Highway 70. They picked up a whole bunch of guns and ammo.”
“Where’d the trucks go after that?” Gallagher asked.
“They went back where they came from,” Curt said. “West on Highway 70. They’re probably cruising north on I-25 right now.”
“How close could you safely get to those Quonset huts?” asked Wallis.
There was a pause on the line, and murmuring.
“What exactly do you have in mind?” Hendrix asked.
“Realistically,” Curt said. “Maybe five hundred yards. Why?”
“That would work,” Gallagher said. “How many M19s do you have with you?”
“The two off-roaders, a Jeep, a Bronco, and a pickup truck all have M19s,” Curt said.
“Shit, you guys have five?” Gallagher asked. “We should blow up those Quonset huts. If they’re full of ammo, you could probably destroy them all.”
Curt chuckled. “You know, that ain’t a bad idea. We might not be able to take out the base, but if we take out their ammo and supply dump, that would be just as good.”
“Exactly,” Gallagher said. “How many grenades you have?”
“We all have 48 round belts,” Curt said.
“Holy crap,” Schultz said.
“You’re forgetting about something,” Clancy said. “We stuffed a couple of mortars in my Jeep too, remember?”
“You’ve got mortars?” Wallis asked.
“Okay, we know what to do,” Curt said. “Anybody here object?”
“Hell no,” Junior said.
“I’m game,” Clancy said.
“Yeah, me too,” Eric said. “We’ll have to be careful. We’ll be visible with the FLIR system.
“Maybe we should hit it at sunup,” Junior said. “That’d put us on the same playing field from a visual point of view.”
“I say we head over and decide when we get there,” Curt said. “We might be able to take out the whole area with mortars. We don’t want to fire off all our grenades. We might need those to fight our way home, you know.”
“Good point,” Gallagher said. “How many mortar rounds you got?”
“We’ve got forty-five high explosives, and fifteen willie peter,” Clancy said. “We have several of those Stinger missiles left, too.”
“Crap, that reminds me,” Eric said. “There were several choppers sitting on the runway next to the hangars.”
“Shit,” Gallagher said. “What type?”
“Looks like attack choppers of some kind,” Eric said. “Didn’t recognize them. They weren’t Apaches or Cobras.”
“Probably Russian, from Venezuela,” Gallagher said. “Okay, then save the Stingers for those guys.”
“Let’s get going,” Curt said. “Find out what’s going on at the RV Park if you can, okay? Then let us know.”
“Roger that,” Gallagher said. “Godspeed.”
Curt’s phone shut down.
“I hope we didn’t just send those folks to their deaths,” Nelson said. “We’ve lost enough people today.”
“The battle at the capitol is over,” Maria said, nodding at the TV screen on the far wall. “They’re pulling bodies out of the building now. Looks like they’re getting ready for a bonfire.”
“Smith and his team bought it, didn’t they?” Wallis asked, choking up.
“Yeah, look at the balcony,” Ramsey said. “Nobody could’ve survived that. The worst part is that they probably didn’t make any difference in the outcome of the battle.”
“Yes, they did,” Nelson said. “They showed us to think outside the box. Make sure we have the cad-cam data for those mounts. I want several hundred of them made up.”
“Where are we gonna get the mini-guns?” Gallagher asked. “The factory is in Arizona.”
“The leader of the factory fled into Texas, bringing much of his operation with him,” Nelson said. “I’ll have a little chat with him. I suspect he can be up and running again in no time flat.”
“Where did Smith get his mini-guns?” Ramsey asked.
“He cannibalized them from broken aircraft, for the most part,” Gallagher said. “We’ve still got about twenty of them. That’ll give us a start.”
“Good, I want these used to protect important areas in our cities,” Nelson said.
Ramsey’s phone dinged. He looked at it, a broad smile washing over his face. “Jason. They’re okay.”
“Get them on the line,” Nelson said.
Ramsey nodded and hit the contact, then put the phone on speak
er and set it on the counter again.
“Hey, boss,” Jason said.
“We’ve got the Governor, Wallis, Gallagher, and a few others here,” Ramsey said. “What happened?”
“Somebody took a hunting rifle to the cell tower that services the RV Park,” Jason said. “Luckily it didn’t destroy the whole thing.”
“Any idea who did it?” Nelson asked.
“Yeah,” Jason said. “There was disagreement in the Mescalero Tribe about their non-aggression pact. I’m guessing it was somebody from the side that doesn’t want to end that relationship.”
“So what now?” Ramsey asked.
“We’re posting guards to keep watch around the perimeter,” Jason said. “That’s about all we can do at the moment.”
“Okay,” Wallis said. “We’ve got one of the drones over you guys now.”
“Shouldn’t that be over the away team?” Jason asked.
“He’s right,” Nelson said. “Are these drones armed?”
“Yeah,” Wallis said. “Air to ground missiles. Using them in New Mexico would break our prime directive for operating outside of Texas, though.”
“Put them over the base anyway,” Nelson said. “If it looks like those choppers are going up, can we take them out with the missiles?”
“Maybe one or two of them,” Wallis said. “If our people have Stingers, we ought to rely on them and just use the drones for surveillance. We don’t want the EU or the UN using this as an excuse to attack us.”
“You let me worry about that,” Nelson said. “We haven’t seen choppers flying in this area, have we?”
“No, but that doesn’t mean much,” Wallis said. “We haven’t been watching. The US Airforce is also watching the area.” He paused for a moment. “Crap, my mind’s going. I’ll get on the horn with my Air Force contacts and have a chat about this. I’d suggest not using the drones to attack until I can have that conversation.”
“Roger that,” Nelson said.
“Now, on to Brownsville,” Nelson said. “Do we have any real-time info?”
“We’re moving drones over there, remember?” Wallis said. “I’ll check on that and get back to you.”
“Good,” Nelson said. “I’ll let you guys get back to work. Talk to you later.”
The call ended. Maria logged off and turned her chair towards the others.
“What now?” Hendrix asked.
“We wait for more info,” Nelson said. “I’m worried about the recon team.”
“Me too,” Ramsey said. “Hope we didn’t blow it.”
“If we can take out that supply dump, it’ll make the rest of their job easier,” Nelson said. “We’ll see what happens.”
Chapter 17 – Fire from the Sky
Juan Carlos and Brendan looked at the roof of the stalled elevator car, bathed in the light of their cell-phone flashlights.
“Should we climb up there, dude?” Juan Carlos asked.
“I don’t hear gunfire,” Brendan said. “Maybe a big transformer blew up or something.”
“They go off with a bang, not a low rumble,” Madison said. “I’ve been close to one when it went off.”
“Yeah, dude, she’s right,” Juan Carlos said. “I’ll bet somebody from across the river has attacked us.”
“Then why’d they stop?” Hannah asked.
There were more explosions, muffled and distant.
“Shit, we need to get the hell out of here, man,” Juan Carlos said.
“Think you can lift me up high enough?” Brendan asked. “So I can at least get the door open up there?”
“Sure,” Juan Carlos said, stepping up. He locked his hands together. “Here, I’ll give you a boost.”
Brendan stepped onto his hands and reached up, punching at the ceiling. The trap door popped out to one side. He came down.
“Well, that’s half the battle,” Juan Carlos said. “Think you can grab hold and pull yourself up?”
“I don’t know,” Brendan said.
“Be careful,” Hannah said. “It might be sharp around that opening.”
“She’s right, dude,” Juan Carlos said.
Suddenly the lights flickered on.
“The power’s back,” Brendan said. The elevator started moving again, opening on the second floor. Richardson and Lita were up there waiting.
“Thank God,” Lita said. “Are you all right?”
“Yeah,” Hannah said. “What happened?”
“We aren’t sure yet,” Richardson said. “We might be under attack. I suggest we go up on the roof and look around.”
“Yeah, but let’s use the stairs,” Madison said.
They rushed over to the stair well, which was about fifteen yards down the hall.
“Where are the others?” Hannah asked.
“Gerald and Hector are still in the bar, as far as I know,” Lita said. “Roberto and Kris went to the camper to settle the dogs down. There was a lot of noise out there.”
“It was pretty muffled in the elevator,” Madison said. They opened the door to the stairwell and headed up, getting to the roof door in a few minutes.
“Locked,” Richardson said.
“Stand aside,” Juan Carlos said. He looked at the lock. “Crap, I can’t pick this kind.”
“You know how to pick locks?” Madison asked.
Brendan snickered. “Yeah, he learned in the barrio.”
Juan Carlos laughed. “Shut up, gringo.”
“Okay, this isn’t going to work,” Richardson said. “Might as well go to our rooms and look out the windows.”
“Which floor are you guys on?” Brendan asked. “We’re on the second.”
“Fourth,” Lita said.
“Good, then let’s go there,” Hannah said. Lita nodded and they opened the door to the fourth floor.
The group rushed down the hall and entered the room.
“We’ve only got windows on one side,” Richardson said. “It is facing the river, though.”
They could see fire in several places, on both sides of the river.
“Looks like we struck back, at least,” Brendan said.
A rocket flew from Matamoros to the center of Brownsville, a large fireball rising from the point of impact.
“Dammit,” Richardson said.
“Think they hit the base?” Lita asked.
“I can’t tell,” Richardson said. “I doubt it. Seems like the hits are further onto US territory than that. The base is right on the river.”
“Call Jefferson,” Brendan said.
“Good idea,” Richardson said, pulling out his phone. He hit the contact and put the phone on speaker. Jefferson answered.
“Hey, man, you okay?” Jefferson asked.
“We’re fine,” Richardson said. “Some of us were stuck in the elevator for a few minutes. Did they hit the base?”
“Nope, they’re going for city infrastructure. They hit several transformer stations. Luckily we have a lot of redundancy. They also hit the main police station and the national guard armory.”
“We hit them back, though, right?”
“The Air Force hit them with some missiles,” Jefferson said. “Delivered by Raptors, but they aren’t set up for this kind of attack. I expect more of a response soon.”
“Let’s hope so,” Juan Carlos said.
“Are we still on for the morning, or do you want us there now?” Richardson asked.
“Tomorrow, unless something changes,” Jefferson said. “Gotta go. Wallis is trying to call.”
“Okay, boss, call us if you need us,” Richardson said. The call ended.
“Damn, we’re out of the frying pan and into the fire,” Hannah said.
“You might be right about that,” Brendan said.
There was a roar outside, and two B-1 Bombers raced by their hotel, heading for the Matamoros city center.
“Hope those are good guys,” Juan Carlos said.
“They got rid of the traitors,” Richardson said.
“
This is gonna take out a lot of civilians,” Madison said.
“Maybe not,” Richardson said. “They’re probably using drones to designate targets. We’ve got laser guided bombs. They can put them right on a specific building.”
There was a large explosion, then another, then two more in quick succession. The B-1s pulled up and climbed, making a sweeping bank turn and heading towards another part of Matamoros. Then there were more blasts, one of them causing a huge secondary set of explosions, lighting the whole sky.
“Yes!” Juan Carlos cried. “Probably their ammo dump.”
“Or fuel,” Brendan said. “Way to go, guys!”
“They’re coming in for another pass,” Lita said.
“Look, they’re right along the river,” Brendan said. The B-1s were at tree-top level now, and then fire flowed out of their bellies, lighting up the whole area along the bank.
“What’s that?” Madison asked.,
“Napalm,” Juan Carlos said. “I love the smell of…”
“Shut up!” Brendan and Richardson said, almost in unison.
“You guys are kinda sick,” Lita said.
“Shit, there were probably troops getting ready to cross over,” Brendan said.
“Oh no,” Madison said, looking at Juan Carlos and then at Hannah.
“Don’t worry, they won’t be coming over now,” Juan Carlos said. He looked at Brendan and they both laughed.
“They’re doing the same thing again, further to the south east,” Brendan said.
There was a knock at the door. Lita rushed over and looked through the peep hole. It was Gerald and Hector. She opened the door and they walked in, both holding drinks.
“We came up to see the show,” Gerald said.
“They’re letting you guys carry travelers?” Juan Carlos asked. “What is this, New Orleans?”
“Hey, everybody’s panties are in such a twist that they weren’t caring,” Hector said. “I heard there were B-1 bombers hitting the bad guys.”
“They just flooded the river bank with Napalm,” Brendan said.
“Geez,” Hector said. “They were going to cross the river and attack.”
“Maybe so,” Richardson said. “They still might, you know.”
“I’m gonna sleep with one eye open,” Madison said.
“We’re miles away,” Juan Carlos said. “I wouldn’t worry about it.”
