Giving the barest of nods, Gavin tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. “Zeus, stay. Here is the end to the antenna I’m putting up,” Nelson said, leaving a wire then backing out and covering the hole.
Leaving his sniper rifle beside the tarp, Nelson started moving out, placing the gear for the attack. He set up the antenna, strapping it to a tree fifty yards away at the top of the hill. Grabbing the R/C buggies, Nelson set them in the parking lot of the building at the top of the hill. Moving back, he grabbed his sniper rifle and moved up the hill until he found another good spot where he could shoot at the prison area and the camp.
Breaking every sniper rule he was taught, Nelson set up just under the top of the hill next to a large tree. Getting down on his stomach, Nelson put the legs of his bipod down for his rifle then pulled out two more magazines. Getting comfortable, Nelson glanced at his watch then grabbed his laser range finder, taking ranges to targets around the prison and camp.
***
Across the river at dawn, the buggies reached the spot to wait for the attack. As Nelson climbed out of his foxhole, Gerald led his group down in the darkness of the ridgeline to a hill beside the bridge that overlooked the entire attack area. The hilltop they were going to set up on was almost bare, so they couldn’t pull up until the attack, but Gerald wanted Matt and Bernard to see where they had to pull up to park.
Like Gavin and Nelson, they had all watched the two get tied up on the bridge and left in the sun that morning, but Gerald wasn’t changing plans anymore. He pointed out the guardhouse in a small field behind the prison, the checkpoint house, and the lodge.
He watched the others closely as they burnt the area into their minds, and then they all moved back up the hill. Seeing they were ready, he whispered, “Head back up and wait for the first explosion, then head down and start shooting. Don’t shoot at Nelson’s hill no matter what; your guns shoot too many bullets to do precision work,” he whispered, and they all nodded. “Duke, stay with Michelle.”
As the group moved back up the ridge, Gerald turned and headed down to the river. “How come I’m the asshole that has to keep swimming across this damn river?” he mumbled.
***
After the lookout down the road behind them had changed, Ronald left Josh and Kevin in the house. He eased into the woods and paralleled the road. He heard the lookout long before he saw them and thought he had to tell Nelson thank you again for the super hearing aid. When he caught his first glimpse, Ronald eased further down the slope, so they couldn’t spot him if they looked this way with thermals.
Figuring this was close enough, Ronald eased up to the lip of the ridge and peeked over. The Humvee was just under a hundred yards away. He could hear them talking quietly as he eased the AT4 off his back. He checked behind him, making sure the back blast from the rocket wouldn’t hit anything that could direct it back to him. Satisfied, he knelt down and waited.
At fifteen till midnight, Kevin eased out of the house and drove the four-wheeler slowly on the shoulder of the road a half a mile from town. He stopped at a house just off the road and pulled the thirty-pound R/C truck then the almost two-hundred-pound trailer with the bomb out. Hooking the bomb to the R/C, Kevin said a prayer as he turned on the switch. When he opened his eyes, he exhaled then turned on the R/C truck switches.
In his foxhole holding the controller for the truck, Gavin saw the light for the bomb come on the switch mounted on the side. He twisted the steering when the controller light came on to make sure he had range. When the front wheels of the truck moved side to side, Kevin peed his pants.
“Fuck,” he whispered, forgetting that Gavin was supposed to do that to make sure the truck was in range. Walking bow-legged so his wet pants wouldn’t rub him, Kevin climbed on the four-wheeler and moved back to the house with Josh.
Nelson glanced at his watch and saw it was ten after midnight, moved to the top of the hill, and turned on the R/Cs then moved back to his sniper spot. Having already mounted his thermal monocular in front of his scope, Nelson flipped his goggles up then pulled the precision stock to his cheek.
Pushing the safety off, Nelson sighted the two guards at the far end of the prison area near the tree line. They were a hundred yards back from the wire, sitting in lawn chairs and talking. Swinging his rifle back to the other end, two troops were sitting beside a Humvee in the parking lot thirty yards from the prison area. The other two were sitting at a picnic table at the guardhouse.
Moving his sight to the first two, Nelson tilted his wrist back, watching the time.
In the foxhole, Gavin made sure the windows were blocked and pulled off his helmet and goggles then turned on the video display glasses. The screen was built in the eyepiece, and he liked it much better than looking at a small TV screen.
Seeing the other controller lights come on, he put on the glasses and took a deep breath as he pressed the trigger, moving the R/C truck that was almost a mile away from him. He pulled it out on the road and drove toward the camp.
Having gone over the route a hundred times that day with his dad, Gavin didn’t have any problems making the turns on the small roads lined with houses. Less than ten minutes later, he was driving around a house and could see the lights of the lodge. Driving past the field with the trailers, Gavin went between two trees and stopped.
Ahead, he saw two soda cans standing up six feet apart. He drove through them, heading straight at the fence where Gerald had cut it. When the front of the truck touched the fence, it moved. Gerald had cut a flap then wired it up so the cut part of the fence acted like a big dog door, swinging up as Gavin pulled the truck and trailer through.
Crossing the parking lot, Gavin could tell the battery packs in the truck were getting low because he was squeezing the trigger wide open, and the truck was barely moving. Pulling in front of a Suburban that was parked in the middle of the lodge, Gavin sighed, parking the truck and putting the controller down.
Grabbing the controller that had “Tank” written on it, Gavin unplugged his glasses from the truck then plugged them to the new controller. When he had video, Gavin drove his buggy off the hilltop down to the road.
Hearing the electric engine creep off behind him, Nelson took a deep breath and let half out as his crosshairs stayed on the guard’s nose. Gently squeezing the trigger, Nelson was surprised when the rifle bucked and moved his crosshairs to the other guard, who was just turning to his companion as his head exploded.
Nelson watched the bullet blow out the troop’s throat, almost taking his head off. Moving his scope, he saw the other troop sitting in the chair without a head. Swinging to the two sitting in the parking lot, Nelson smiled, seeing them still talking. He was over three hundred yards away, and there were generators running all around them.
Taking another deep breath and letting half out, Nelson sent them with their buddies. Moving up to the guardhouse, Nelson almost freaked when he only saw one guard, but the other stepped out from behind a tree, buttoning his pants.
Since Mr. Pee was standing, he was the greatest threat. Nelson rested the crosshairs, squeezing the trigger. When the rifle bucked, he swung over on the last guard to see him starting to stand and squeezed before the crosshairs came to rest.
He watched the bullet hit the guy in the back, knocking him down. Nelson moved the rifle and squeezed three more times, bracketing the troop’s head. Two of the bullets hit the troop in the head, blowing it apart.
Swinging back to Mr. Pee, Nelson saw him trying to crawl to the guardhouse. Squeezing the trigger slowly four times, Nelson took his head off. Scanning around and seeing none the wiser, Nelson aimed at the padlock on the gate. It took four shots, but he hit it then dropped the partial magazine and loaded a full one, aiming his rifle at the camp.
***
Moving out of the river up to the lodge, Gerald never heard the shot that killed the first guard or any that followed as he moved to the restaurant that was holding the women. Staying low, he moved up the stairs to the building and
took a quick peek inside. Three rows of people were in the center of a large room with furniture against the wall.
Dropping down, he eased up to the door, tried it, and was shocked that the damn thing was unlocked. Slipping inside, he closed the door gently and quickly counted thirty-four forms laying on the floor in three rows.
It was then he realized that three chains ran the length of the room, and the forms were handcuffed to them. Moving around the group slowly, he saw all of them were women of various ages, and none were clothed. Seeing one that was middle aged and no others were chained close, Gerald moved over to her and placed a hand over her mouth.
The woman jerked, and he put a hand on her shoulder as he put his mouth next to her ear. “We are here to rescue you. Quiet,” he breathed out, and the woman froze. Not taking his hand off her mouth, Gerald continued. “Not all the troops here are asleep. If anyone makes a noise, this escape is over, and my team just attacks. Nod if you understand.”
Relief filled the woman’s face as tears rolled down it, and she nodded. Taking a breath, Gerald told her the only thing he knew that would keep all of them quiet. “They are going to kill all of you women because they can’t have others knowing what they were doing to you. We are going to try for the others in the rooms, but this group is bigger than us,” he said, glancing at his watch. “We could only bring so many from Arkansas here to fight. If an alarm goes up, we attack whether we are out of here or not, understand?”
The woman nodded rapidly and pointed to her wrist at the handcuff. Gerald pulled out the handcuff key he always carried. “Move slow and quiet, and get the others up. Tell them fast, but if any make a noise, I’m gone, and you’re on your own. You have nineteen minutes, and I’m leaving with or without you. Form two lines at that back door; I’m going to keep watch in case one of the troops comes in.”
The woman nodded as the handcuff came off. Gerald moved to the front of the restaurant as the woman moved down the line, waking the women. Looking outside, Gerald saw the area lit up with portable lights and looked over and saw the R/C truck parked fifteen yards from the lodge in front of the Suburban. Hearing soft whispers behind him, he looked back and saw the woman moving down the second line, letting women go.
Gerald moved back and walked into the kitchen and saw it had been recently used. Out of curiosity, he moved over to a huge, stainless steel stove and turned on a burner. He almost jumped when a small popping started, and blue flame sprang out. Turning it off, Gerald moved to the side of the stove.
He never saw a propane tank, so that meant gas was still on there. No need to waste that, he thought, pulling a multi tool off his vest and opened it up. Reaching behind the stove, Gerald turned off the valve and put the jaws on the hose and twisted it off. Pulling it off the valve, Gerald turned the valve on and heard the hiss of gas, and the smell hit him like a wall.
Putting his multi tool up, Gerald walked out and heard a younger girl let out a yelp, but over a dozen women hissed, “Shh,” quietly. Stopping, Gerald was surprised to see all the women at the back door in two lines. Glancing at his watch, he walked over to them, mumbling, “Ten minutes, not bad.”
Moving to the door, he whispered, “Stay in line. My team is about to move in for the others, and we have to be gone. We are going under the bridge, and you’re going to have to cross the river to the prison area. The guards there are already dead. If you hear an explosion, that means we have been discovered, and you need to head south to Louisiana. Don’t wait because more troops are going to come, and we can’t hold them for long,” he whispered, moving to the door. “No talking, and no noise.”
Gerald led them down the stairs to the river’s edge then headed north to the bridges. When they were under the westbound bridge, Gerald turned around. “This is where we say goodbye. I have to go and fight. You need to get across the river and get the hell out of here. Stay away from main roads. Tell the others in the prison area the gate is open, but you need to be quiet so you don’t attract attention. Don’t go anywhere near the troop areas because we will be killing them shortly. Get the others, and hit the woods fast and quiet.”
As he was turning to leave, the first woman he freed grabbed his arm. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“You’re welcome. You don’t have long before the attack starts. You need to hurry. Get the other prisoners, and run,” he said, walking toward the hill Nelson was set up on.
As he walked away, Gerald heard several gasp as the women moved into the river. “Yeah, that water is fucking cold,” he huffed and moved faster toward the hill.
Nelson glanced over his shoulder toward the prison and saw a group emerge from the river. Flipping down his goggles, he saw it was the women and flipped them back up. Glancing at his watch, Nelson saw it was only fifteen minutes until party time.
In the foxhole, Gavin was driving the R/C under the Stryker and set the controller down. Pushing the display glasses up, he grabbed the truck controller. With his finger on the switch, Gavin held up his watch and watched the digital numbers roll, closing in on 1 a.m. When 0100 popped on the watch face, Gavin flipped the switch.
When the signal reached the bomb, a small explosion went off, vaporizing the fifty pounds of liquid fuel followed a thousandth of a second later by a hundred pounds of high explosive. The shock wave radiated out, shoving the bottom floor of the lodge out the back, leaving the upper two floors hovering for a split second as the blast wave folded the front walls in, then gravity took over for a brief second.
The shockwave hit the restaurant, blowing the walls in, but a small flash wave followed, setting off the room filled with natural gas. Half a second after the main explosion, the restaurant detonated, vaporizing the hotel before the two top floors touched the ground.
The bigger shockwave followed the smaller wave out, overtaking it and throwing the Humvees and other vehicles around like a child does with toys.
When the shockwave hit the hill, Nelson thought his eyes were going to pop out, and he was over three hundred yards away. When the sound wave hit, Nelson felt the ground shake as he vibrated across the ground.
In the foxhole, the shockwave blew off the tarp covering the top, and when the sound wave hit, it knocked the leaves off the trees. As Gavin shook his head at what he did, he grabbed the controller for the tank and flipped the switch as leaves rained down on him. The explosion was nothing like the first one, and most didn’t even hear it. Since he was down in the foxhole, Gavin was protected from the shockwaves.
Under the tank, the ten-pound charge turned the copper disk to plasma, which blew through the underside of the tank, igniting ammo and fuel. Then Gavin flipped the switch for the Stryker, blowing it up.
Over two miles away, Ronald jerked when the explosion erupted, and he even felt the ground rumble. His jerk made his finger hit the trigger for the AT4. A loud pop sounded, followed a second later by a whoosh as the rocket’s motor ignited, sailing the hundred yards to the Humvee that was on lookout.
The five men inside heard the explosion and only had time to give a startled jerk as the warhead punched in the passenger side and detonated. Ronald watched the doors buckle under the explosion.
He dropped the empty tube and lifted his rifle, watching as a fire slowly started to build inside. Not seeing any movement, Ronald moved up to the road and ran back to Josh and Kevin.
Across the river, Matt and Bernard started the FLYERs and sped down the small dirt road to the hill as Nelson shook his head. “What the fuck kind of fuel was that?” Nelson asked out loud, leaning over his rifle. “Thank God for hearing protection.”
The house the troops were using to man the checkpoint was blown off its foundation and leaned sharply. The house looked like it would only take a tap for the roof to collapse in on the structure. Getting ready to press the trigger to send rounds inside, a loud RRRRRRRR sounded in the night, and Nelson saw stars shooting at the house in his thermal sight.
Lifting his head up, a line of red was hosing the house from across the
river. Looking over, he saw a short burst of red hit the guardhouse back from the prison. Then, two lines of red tracers hosed the area that used to house the camp. What was left of the lodge was an inferno, and the tracers were raking the vehicles around the area.
Getting up, Nelson flipped his goggles down and moved down to Gavin. He saw Gerald stand up from behind a tree. “Old man, what the fuck was that? Unless you use plutonium, you don’t get a bang like that from a hundred and fifty pounds. I don’t care if it is a fuel air bomb,” Nelson said, moving over and seeing the top blown off the foxhole.
Gavin was looking up at him with a big grin. “Wow,” Gavin said. “I didn’t know it was going to be that big.”
“Makes two of us,” Nelson said and turned to the bridge. The two Xes were lying on the ground, but he could see the two people moving. “Gerald, cover,” he said, tossing his M1 over. “Gavin, get our shit ready to go,” Nelson said, moving down the hill. “Gerald, I’m going to cut those two loose.”
Before Gerald could protest, Nelson was gone. When he reached the bottom of the hill, Nancy came over the radio. “You have a Blackhawk chopper coming in from the north at three thousand feet.”
Across the river, Matt and Bernard were loading more ammo. “Shit,” Michelle said, climbing out of the turret.
“We need to leave,” Matt said, loading the ammo can.
“We can’t outrun a helicopter no matter what you’ve seen on TV,” Michelle said, pulling a Stinger off the back of her FLYER. “Always wanted to shoot this damn thing.”
Knocking the ends off, Michelle turned it on, pulling it up to her shoulder as the sound of the helicopter reached her. Looking to the north, she saw a black shape coming toward them rapidly. When it was two miles away, Michelle looked through the sight and found the chopper. She flipped the switch, arming the warhead and making it search for a target. It only took a second, and the Stinger gave a steady tone. Michelle pulled the trigger, and a pop sounded as the rocket ejected from the tube.
Forgotten Forbidden America:: Patriots Reborn Page 29
