by Eric Vall
“Tav is right.” Hammer nodded. “They’re far too dangerous.”
“Yes,” I agreed. “We’ll have to take them out the very first chance we get.”
“Alright,” Anna said with a small nod.
“They still have three planes, right?” Paige asked. “So we need at least three missiles, yeah?”
“At least,” I said. “I’d like double that, just in case. But three should work.”
“I’ll run down to the armory and count really quick,” Paige said.
“Go,” I told her, but before she reached the door I called out to stop her. “Wait, take Anna’s walkie.”
“Right,” the brunette said, and she ran back over to the desk and grabbed the walkie Anna held out for her, then she rushed back over to the door and down the stairs.
“If we’re going to use the anti aircraft missiles, then we’ll need to get the ship close to the attack point,” Hammer said.
“Yeah,” I agreed, and I looked at Rivers, Pike, and Minji. “Do you think you all can get the ship in place? There’s an area nearby called King’s Creek. If you can park it there you should be right where the action is.”
“Definitely,” Pike said. “We can get it there no problem.”
“Wait,” Hammer said. “Give me Rivers. I’ll need his help with the roads.”
“Thanks, Lieutenant,” Rivers said with a small nod.
“Alright,” I said. “Take Rivers, I’ll take Smith instead, deal?”
“That’s better anyways,” Rivers said. “Smith is a better maritime pilot than I could ever be.”
“Good,” I chuckled. “As long as this girl gets over there in one piece, I don’t care who steers the damn thing.”
The plan was made, now we were just waiting for Paige to get back to us with the tally on the anti aircraft missiles.
I looked over the map again while we waited. The room was quiet after a couple of moments, and everyone was clearly in their own heads.
Rivers leaned back against the wall and looked out toward the ocean.
Hammer crossed his arms over his chest and cracked his neck from side to side, then he let out a deep breath and leaned back against the wall as well.
Anna’s eyes were narrowed as she went over the map again, and I had no doubt she was replaying the plan in her head, carefully considering every last move.
Tara turned around and leaned her butt against the desk, then she pulled out her knife and cleaned under her fingernails. It amazed me that even in this tense time she was able to focus on such a small, menial task. Then again, it was probably for the better. Just standing around worrying didn’t do any good.
Bailey and Minji had taken a few steps back, and they stood by the radio and looked around aimlessly. Bailey worried her lips while Minji picked at her fingers nervously.
There were enough plasma weapons in the hold to take out an entire state, so there had to be plenty of anti aircraft missiles as well. The NK army clearly didn’t go anywhere without enough firepower to level anywhere they desired.
Six missiles would be ideal, just in case something went wrong, but I’d take three in a heartbeat. As long as we had somewhere between those numbers, we were golden.
“Ugh, it’s been, like, forever,” Tara said after a few minutes. “What is she doing down there?”
“It hasn’t been that long,” Anna said. “Be patient.”
“We don’t really have time to be patient today,” Tara retorted, and she raised an eyebrow and put her hand on her hip.
“Fair point,” Anna half chuckled.
“There are a lot of weapons down there,” Minji said, and she bit her lip. “Perhaps I should go help her.”
“Hold on,” I said, and I brought the walkie up to my lips and pressed the button. “Paige, are you there? What’s the tally?”
The brunette was nothing if not thorough, so I figured she was probably just making sure she had every last one counted, but after a few seconds she didn’t respond.
“What’s going on?” Bailey whispered. “Why isn’t she answering?”
“I don’t know.” I shook my head.
“Maybe she just didn’t hear you?” Anna asked with a shrug.
“Maybe,” I agreed, and I held up the walkie again. “Paige, come in. What’s the current tally?”
Once again, a moment went by, and she didn’t respond.
“Alright,” I said, and I hooked the walkie back onto my hip and started for the door. “I’m going down there.”
“I’m coming with you,” Anna said, and she was suddenly right behind me.
“Tav?” Paige’s voice rang through the speaker of the walkie talkie.
“Paige?” I asked as I picked up the device from my hip. “What’s going on?”
“We were about to rush down there, you know,” Anna said, and she rolled her eyes. “Yeesh.”
“Sorry,” Paige said, and I could hear that she was out of breath.
“What is it?” I asked, and as I looked around I was acutely aware of the fact that everybody in the room was staring at me.
“I was double-checking the armory to make sure I had the count right,” Paige said.
“What’s your tally so far?” I asked.
“Well, that’s kind of the problem,” Paige said, and her voice was low with concern.
My heart sank.
“How many?” I asked, and my voice was serious and monotone.
“I can keep looking--” Paige started.
“How many?” I cut her off.
“One,” she said quietly.
I closed my eyes and took a deep breath.
One missile for three MiGs.
We were fucked.
Chapter 8
“You’re sure?” I asked, even though I knew she was.
“Like I said, I can keep looking,” Paige said through the walkie. “But… yeah, that’s all I can find.”
“I’m sure she looked everywhere,” Bailey said, and she bit her lip. “Paige is pretty good at that kind of stuff.”
“If she found one, then she found where they should have been.” Minji shook her head. “I can’t believe that there’s only one on board.”
“Right?” Tara asked rhetorically. “What the fuck kind of military ship is this?”
“One that’s equipped with plenty of other equipment,” Hammer said grimly. “If they needed the room they would have dumped those things fast. Especially since they could be pretty sure we wouldn’t have anything airborne to combat in the first place.”
“Hammer’s right.” I nodded. “We shouldn’t be surprised.”
“What are we going to do?” Anna asked. “We need those.”
“Don’t you guys have some?” Tara asked Hammer.
“I’m afraid not.” The SEAL shook his head. “We almost got some a while back, but we were under fire, and I had to make a snap decision. Besides, we didn’t have anything to use them with at the moment.”
“Fuck,” Anna cursed. “What do we do now?”
“Let me think,” I said, and I hooked the walkie back onto my hip, turned around, and walked over to the window to look at the ocean beyond.
The sunlight shone on the water, and I was amazed at how beautiful my surroundings were even when everything else around me was falling to pieces. We didn’t stand a chance against the NKs from Boston if we didn’t have air superiority. Our only option was to figure out a way to get it.
We needed to find more anti aircraft missiles, and we needed to do it extremely fast. Definitely faster than any other mission we’d gone on.
“Hammer,” I said, and I turned to look at the large SEAL. “Do you know of anywhere around that might have some?”
“Oh, yeah,” Bailey said. “Where was it you guys almost got some from last time?”
“The Navy Supply Center had some a while ago,” Hammer said, and he put his hand on the back of his neck as he thought. “But last time we were there I didn’t see any. The place is pretty damn ra
nsacked.”
“Shit,” I breathed. The SEALs knew this place better than we did, so I was hoping Hammer would know somewhere nearby we could go to get some. “Rivers?”
“Sorry.” The SEAL shook his head slowly. “I don’t know.”
“What about the Captain?” Minji asked.
“What about him?” Hammer replied, and his eyebrows pinched together as he looked at her.
“He might know of somewhere,” the Korean woman said.
“You think so?” Rivers asked skeptically.
“He was stationed around here for a long time,” Minji said. “If anybody knows, I bet it’s him.”
“Good idea,” I told her. “We’ll ask him. You and Pike stay here, we’ll send Smith to meet you. Once he arrives, you all take the ship to King’s Creek, you got it?”
“Yes, sir.” Pike nodded.
“Hammer, Rivers, girls,” I said. “Let’s get back to shore.”
The SEALs nodded and headed for the door, but the girls beat them to it. Anna reached for the handle, but before she could grab it, the door swung open, and Paige slammed into the redhead.
“Other way,” Anna said, and she grabbed Paige by the shoulders, spun her around, and pushed her back out the door.
“Be careful,” Minji told me softly as I followed the group.
“We will,” I told her with a small smile. “We’ll see you soon, okay?”
Minji nodded, and I could tell she was on edge, but I didn’t have time to reassure her more than that at the moment. There was too much to get done in far too little time.
Once we got back on deck, I made an announcement for everybody to board the rafts and head to shore. Only those necessary to operate the ship should stay, which was Pike, Minji, Smith, and a few others. It wasn’t perfect, and it was barely a skeleton crew, but they weren’t going too far.
After everyone was back on shore, we piled into the jeeps and tore off back toward our camp. I kept my foot on the gas the whole way, and I heard the tires screech as we took corners, and the girls grabbed onto the oh shit handles and leaned to the side.
I wasn’t incredibly proud of driving like a maniac with Tara and my unborn child on board, but I didn’t have any time to waste. If we failed this mission, then that would put her in far more danger than a little bit of speeding would.
The girls were deathly quiet the entire drive back to the camp, and I was so focused on the road ahead of me, that I didn’t even notice their silence until we were nearly there.
I pulled into the front driveway of the old soda factory, threw the jeep in park, shut it off, and hopped out.
Hammer pulled in a few seconds later, and I waved my hand to stop him.
“What do you need?” he asked as he rolled his window down.
“I’m going to talk to the Captain,” I explained. “Gather everyone up and give them a rundown. I’ll be down as soon as I can.”
“On it,” Hammer said, and he pulled the jeep around back while the girls and I rushed inside.
The guard at the front door looked at us with concern as we pushed past him, but I just called for him to go around back and find Hammer.
“We’re going to throw everyone into a panic,” Anna said as we rushed up the stairs to the Captain’s room.
“Maybe they should be panicked,” I muttered more to myself than as a response, then I sighed and turned to Anna. “It’ll all be okay, trust me.”
“I do,” the redhead said with a nod.
We reached the Captain’s room, and I grabbed the handle to open it but found it locked.
“Captain,” I said as I banged on the door. “It’s Tav. I need to talk to you now.”
“What’s going on?” the older man asked as he yanked the door open from the inside. His bushy gray eyebrows were pulled together, and a concerned wrinkle was on his forehead as he stepped to the side to allow us in. “Is everything alright?”
“Not exactly,” I said. “I don’t have a lot of time, but we need to find anti-aircraft missiles. Right now.”
“What do you mean you don’t have a lot of time?” he asked, and he looked around at the girls. “What’s happened?”
“The NK troops from Boston are on their way here,” Paige explained quickly. “They’re just outside of Richmond.”
“Richmond!” the Captain exclaimed, and his whole body jolted backward slightly with surprise.
“Yes,” I said. “So, do you know where we can find any?”
“We already asked Hammer,” Paige added. “He said the Navy Supply Center used to have them, but it’s ransacked too badly now.”
“I don’t know if you saw, but a MiG flew overhead today,” Anna said. “We need those missiles to take down those planes.”
“Do you know where we can find any?” I repeated.
“Uh, I…” the man stammered and looked around for a second. “Hang on, let me think.”
The Captain started to pace around the room frantically muttering to himself. He put his pudgy hands on his head as he walked, and the floor creaked under his weight with each step.
“Come on, Captain,” Anna said after a moment. “We don’t have any time to waste.”
“Give him a minute,” Paige whispered. “We just sprung this on him.”
“I know, you’re right,” Anna said quietly, and she took a step backward and looked out the door.
“Ah, yes!” the Captain exclaimed after a moment, and he looked at me and held up one finger to wave it back and forth. “Now, I don’t know if it’ll work, it’s not the most modern, but it’s all I can think of.”
“Captain!” Tara pushed. “Out with it.”
“Right, right,” the gray-haired man said. “The Air Force Base is the only thing I can think of. There are a couple of old M51 anti aircraft guns on display.”
“M51s?” Tara asked. “What are those.”
“You don’t mean Skysweepers, do you?” I asked, and my eyes narrowed on the man.
“I do.” He nodded.
“What the hell are you two talking about?” Tara asked.
“The Skysweeper was made in the 1950s,” I explained.
“Oh, damn,” Tara said. “You think it will still work?”
“Well, I should say so,” the Captain said. “I doubt the EMP had any effect on them.”
“There's two of them?” Paige asked.
“That’s right.” The Captain nodded.
“You don’t think somebody took them?” Bailey asked.
“I highly doubt it,” the Captain said with a shake of his head. “They’re old, heavier than hell, and I doubt most civilians would even know they were operational.”
“How do we know they’re operational?” Anna asked.
“Fair question,” Tara said, and she pointed at Anna with her thumb.
“They were operational when they were put on display,” he replied. “I don’t see any reason why they wouldn’t work now.”
“I guess that’s true.” Tara nodded.
“Besides, nobody would be able to move them without a vehicle,” the Captain said. “And those are pretty scarce nowadays.”
“I think it’s worth a shot,” Paige said, and she turned to me and bit her lip. “Tav, what do you think?”
“I think you’re right.” I nodded. “It’s the best chance we have at the moment.”
“Where are they at on the Base?” Paige asked.
“I can’t remember where exactly.” The Captain shook his head. “But they’re somewhere around the center area by the commissary.”
“By the commissary,” Paige repeated with a nod.
“Alright,” Anna said. “So, how do we get there?”
“More importantly, how far away is the base?” Paige asked.
“Twenty or thirty minutes,” the Captain said.
“Okay, so like fifteen with Tav driving,” Tara chuckled.
“The sooner we get there, the better,” I said.
“I can get us there,” Paige said as she p
ulled a map out of her backpack. “Just give me a few minutes to mark out a path.”
“Mark it on the go,” I told her.
“Are we leaving now?” Anna asked.
“We need to find Hammer first,” I said. “Let’s go.”
We rushed toward the door, but I turned and saw how confused the Captain looked, so I stopped for a moment.
“Thank you, sir,” I said sincerely. “This was a big help.”
“Be careful, son,” the Captain said, and his blue eyes were intense and emotional as he looked at me.
I nodded and followed the girls out of the room.
It felt like the day had flown by faster than I could even think after we’d received that call from the Boston soldiers. I knew it had only been an hour at most, but that meant we only had five left to get the bridges blown, the howitzer set up, find these skysweeper guns, and get everybody into position before the NK troops arrived.
I quickened my pace as we came down the stairs and reached the main level of the old soda factory.
As soon as I opened the door to outside, I heard Hammer’s voice. He was explaining what was going on and going over the plan.
“Hey, there he is,” someone said as I came out of the building. “Tav, is this true?”
I realized it was Jeff who was speaking. The brown-haired man stood a few feet away from Hammer with his mouth slightly agape with shock.
“I’m afraid so,” I said as I approached the group.
Hammer had everyone gathered together. My civilians, along with the rest of his SEALs, and the other navy guys as well.
Everybody was clearly distraught, but nobody was being too loud about it. There were some quiet murmurs amongst the crowd, but once I moved to the front of the group they all quieted down.
“I hadn’t quite gotten to the plan yet,” Hammer told me as I moved to stand next to him.
“It’s alright,” I assured the SEAL. “I’ll take it from here. There’s been a slight change of plans anyways.”
Hammer’s eyes narrowed with curiosity, but he didn’t respond.
“What are we doing?” Jeff pushed. “What’s our plan?”
“I’m sure Hammer already told you we only have six hours,” I said. “And actually, right now, we’re down to about five.”
