by Eric Vall
“Good.” I nodded. “It seems like everything’s on track.”
Even as I said the words, I realized something was missing. Hammer should be back by now, yet I hadn’t heard from him.
“What’s wrong?” Anna asked when she noticed my face change.
“I just realized we haven’t heard from Hammer in a little while,” I said.
“Oh, yeah.” Bailey frowned. “He should be back by now, right?”
“I would think so.” I nodded and grabbed the walkie from my hip. “Hammer, come in.”
The girls all looked at me seriously as we waited for the SEAL to respond.
A moment went by, and it was just radio silence.
“That doesn’t seem good,” Anna remarked, and her eyes narrowed on me.
“It doesn’t,” I agreed, and I pushed the button on the walkie again. “Hammer, come in.”
My heart sped up as I waited once more.
Suddenly, a crackle came through the walkie.
“Hammer here,” the SEAL’s voice rang through the air, and I nearly let out a sigh of relief, but then he spoke again. “I’ve got bad news.”
“Fuck,” I muttered, then I mashed down on the talk button of the walkie. “What’s wrong?”
Chapter 12
Anna, Bailey, and Tara all stared at the small black device in my hands as they stepped closer to me so they could listen.
“What’s goin--” Paige asked as she approached the group.
“Shhh.” Tara held up a hand to stop the brunette from speaking.
“We saw the NK troops,” Hammer said.
“Were you spotted?” I asked quickly, and my eyebrows pulled together.
The NKs would probably think Hammer’s group was just part of the American resistance, not that they’d be wrong, I could only hope that it wouldn’t tip them off to the larger attack we had planned.
“No,” the SEAL replied. “We weren’t spotted, but Tav, these guys are packing some serious firepower with them.”
“What do you mean?” I asked. “What do they have?”
The girls and I had dealt with the Boston troops before, and we’d managed to take out a good portion of their supplies and weapons. They could have had more we didn’t get to, though.
“Some tankers of plasma fluid for one,” Hammer said. “And at least ten smaller vehicles and three larger ones.”
“That’s not that bad,” Anna whispered.
“They’re also hauling two MiGs,” the SEAL continued.
“Hauling them?” Tara asked.
“What do you mean they’re hauling them?” I asked into the walkie. “You only saw two?”
The NK soldier on the radio earlier had told us they had three, but if the count was really only two, then that would make things even easier for us.
“They’re hauling two,” Hammer answered. “But there was another one in the air. It was circling around, just kind of staying with the troops as they moved.”
“Shit,” I breathed. I had expected they’d have the MiGs in the air, but hearing it still made me cringe inside. Those jets were powerful as hell, and it wasn’t exactly on my bucket list to try and take one of them down. Especially not with an ancient M51 Skysweeper. That was all we had, though, so that was exactly what we were going to do.
“We’ve got the side roads blocked off, though,” Hammer said. “And we’re on our way back now.”
“Get here as soon as possible,” I said. “And be careful.”
“We’ll see you in a few,” the SEAL replied. “Over and out.”
I hung the walkie back on my hip and turned to look at the girls.
Anna’s red eyebrows were pulled together in thought, and her green eyes stared off into the distance.
Paige had her bottom lip between her teeth.
Tara’s plump lips were pressed together, and her eyes were narrowed as she looked up to the sky in contemplation.
And finally, Bailey’s pretty pink lips were pulled into a small frown, and her head was cocked to the side as she looked at me with concern.
“Isn’t that kind of good news?” Tara asked after a few seconds.
“They weren’t lying about having three MiGs,” Anna said. “How is that good news?”
“Did anybody really think they were lying?” Tara asked, and she cocked her hip out and put her hand on it.
“I guess that’s a good point.” Anna shrugged. “But I still don’t see how that’s good news.”
“Well, think about,” the platinum-blonde said. “They’re expecting to meet the rest of their troops in Yorktown, right?”
“That’s right.” I nodded.
“And we’re a few miles north of that,” she continued.
“Get to the point already,” Anna said.
“If they’re only flying one plane on their way here, and we’re closer than they expect, then wouldn’t it be safe to assume they’d still only have one plane in the air?” Tara asked, and she shot Anna a playful glare for hurrying her along.
“Huh, that’s a really good point,” Paige said, and she narrowed her eyes and pointed at Tara. “It does seem like it would be a waste of fuel to have all three of them in the air.”
“Right,” the platinum-blonde agreed. “If they’re just using the single plane as a scout, then it wouldn’t make sense to have all three going at once. I doubt they’re even prepared to use more than one at a time.”
“I think you’re right.” I nodded. “They’re probably only going to have one in the air by the time they get here.”
“We still have to take out that one,” Bailey said. “But that’s better than three.”
“A lot better,” I chuckled.
“It doesn’t really change our plan much, either, does it?” Anna asked.
“Not particularly,” I agreed. “It might even make it easier for us if there’s only one plane to take down. That means the howitzer can fire sooner, and so can we. If we had to wait for three planes to go down that would’ve given the NK soldiers more time to respond.”
“This is perfect, then,” Tara said with a grin.
“I wouldn’t call having to take out a MiG with an old ass Skysweeper perfect,” Paige laughed. “But I guess it’s as close to perfect as we’re going to get.”
“Whatever makes things easier on us.” Tara shrugged.
“Good point,” I agreed, and I picked up the walkie from my hip again. “Ben, Jeff, come in.”
A few seconds later a male voice crackled through the small speaker.
“Ben here,” the pilot said.
“Hammer gave us an update,” I explained.
“What’s going on?” Ben asked, and his voice was serious.
“We think the NK troops only have one plane in the air at a time,” I said.
“Really?” he asked.
“They’re using it to scout,” I added.
“And since this is a blitz attack, that will probably be the only one in the air when they get here,” Ben said, and I could practically hear the smile in his voice.
“Right,” I agreed. “I just wanted to give you guys the heads up.”
“Thanks,” Ben said. “We’re ready to blow the bridge once everyone’s across and the plane is down.”
“I look forward to it,” I told him, and I hung the walkie back on my hip.
The familiar sound of one of our jeeps filled my ears then, and I looked down the road to see two of them headed toward us. It was Hammer and the rest of the SEALs, and he pulled in and parked his jeep in the grove of trees near ours.
“Anna,” I said. “Go tell the group with the Skysweeper what we just found out. I’m going to talk to Hammer.”
“Aye, aye, Captain,” Anna said.
The redhead walked over to where the large weapon was hidden among the trees while I met Hammer near the jeeps.
“That was quick,” I said as I approached the SEAL.
“We weren’t too far away,” he explained. “But I had my radio on silent
there for a while, so I didn’t hear the first time you called.”
“I understand,” I told him.
“So, where do you want us?” he asked.
I quickly did a head count of the SEALs. There were fifteen of them altogether.
“Keep five of your men here,” I told him, “and send the rest to the ship. There’s only a few guys over there right now. They could use the backup.”
“Sounds good,” he agreed. “We’ll get into position with your men.”
“Alright.” I nodded.
Hammer divided his men and sent a few of them to the ship while the others stayed on shore with us. The civilians had the sandbag covers all ready to go, and while everyone hunkered down for the attack, I did one final sweep of the area.
I looked up to the sky and saw there was only about an hour left of daylight which meant the NK troops could arrive at any second. I wanted to make sure everything was absolutely perfect.
The first group I checked on was the four people we’d assigned to the M51 Skysweeper. They had the machine loaded and ready to go, and they all seemed ready and confident, so I moved on to the next area. There were six sandbag covers set up, and I inspected each one to make sure they were fully operational.
The sandbags wouldn’t do a whole lot against the plasma weapons the NK troops had, but hopefully they wouldn’t need to. If this blitz attack worked, then the soldiers wouldn’t have enough time to respond with blasts of their own. I figured the howitzer blast would take out quite a few of them when it crumbled the bridge, and the rest of the soldiers would be left to the team surrounding the peninsula.
We’d have the advantage, though, and we could start firing as soon as the howitzer took out the bridge. The soldiers would be totally caught off guard, and even if they were able to find some cover, we’d have them surrounded on all sides.
That was one reason I’d had Hammer send some of his SEALs over to the ship. That way, if the NK soldiers tried to hide on the other side of their vehicles, there would be guys on the boat ready to take them out. I didn’t want these assholes to have anywhere to go.
Sometimes, it felt like I planned out every detail too perfectly, but that was the way it had to be. I had to make sure all my bases were covered. I’d learned that a long time ago when I’d first joined the military. There was no such thing as a fuck up or an accident on the battlefield. There was only life and death.
One wrong move, or a failure to plan ahead, could easily result in a bullet to the skull, or even somewhere less deadly, which only meant death would be a drawn out process instead of a quick one.
Paige was the only medic we had with us, and most of the time she was busy fighting. If someone got injured, there wasn’t anybody to rush to their aid. Even in the battles I’d been in overseas, there was only so much a field medic could do on the spot.
And nowadays, what one could do was even more limited, not only because Paige didn’t have all the knowledge of a trained medic, either, but because we didn’t have access to a helicopter and surgeons if something went really wrong.
Any wound, no matter how small, could be deadly, which meant I couldn’t allow anyone to receive even so much as a scratch. These men and women had chosen to follow me, and I wasn’t going to let them down.
Even the SEALs had made the conscious decision to allow me to step in as their leader. When the Captain said he was retiring, they could have easily left, or refused to follow my orders, but they didn’t. Instead, these men who barely knew me congratulated me and saluted me as their leader.
I was going to do whatever it took to lead them to victory.
After I inspected all of the sandbag covers, checked on the Skysweeper, and made sure Hammer and the SEALs were in position on the ship, there was nothing else for me to do except wait.
The position of the sun told me that only twenty minutes or so had passed since I last checked, but it felt like much longer than that. The anticipation of waiting for the Boston troops was killing me.
I made my way over to where the girls were posted up behind one of the sandbags.
Bailey had her Barrett laid out and ready to go, and I saw that the blonde had used some sandbags to create a makeshift table for it so it was high enough to shoot above the sandbags but still be concealed enough for her to fire without worry of being seen.
The girls were all huddled together behind the bags, and I walked over and sat down next to them.
Anna was on my left, and the redhead had her pistol on her lap while she checked her magazines to make sure they were all full. Her tongue poked to the side of her mouth as she focused on the task at hand, and I couldn't help but think how adorable she was in that moment, even with the impending fight on our hands.
Paige was next to Anna, and the brunette sat leaning against the sandbags with her knees up to her chest. She worried her lip and stared off into the distance, clearly in deep thought.
Tara was after that, and the platinum-blonde caught my eye, flashed me a smile and a wink, and then blew me a kiss.
I smiled back and shook my head. Even in the most serious of situations, Tara managed to bring a smile to my face.
Last, but not least, was Bailey. The blonde was sat next to her Barrett so she could jump up at a moment’s notice, but for the time being, she used a stick to draw some hearts and stars in the dirt next to her.
“Everything look okay?” Anna asked after I sat down.
“It’s as good as it can be,” I told her.
“It’s almost hard to believe we pulled this off today,” Paige said with a shake of her head.
“I mean, I knew we would,” Tara said with a small shrug. “But it is pretty impressive.”
“I like your confidence,” Paige laughed.
“You have to be confident,” the platinum-blonde said. “Otherwise if you fuck up, then people know. If you’re confident about it, then nobody can even tell the difference.”
“I’m pretty sure that’s not how that works at all,” Anna chuckled.
“Oh, yeah?” Tara asked with a glare. “Then why didn’t anybody question it when I started cooking for you guys?”
“Because the food was good,” the redhead said, and she flashed me a confused look.
“Yeah, but I didn’t know it was going to be good,” the platinum-blonde said. “But I was confident about it. If I had told you guys, ‘oh, I’m not sure it’s going to taste good, tell me what you think, what could I have done better, blah blah blah,’ then do you really think you guys would’ve liked it as much?”
“I mean, she has a point,” Paige said.
“Really?” Anna asked Paige. “You’re on her side?”
“Psychologically, she’s right.” The brunette shrugged. “You’re far more likely to find a flaw in something you otherwise wouldn’t if someone tells you beforehand that it’s flawed.”
“That makes sense,” Bailey agreed.
“You, too?” Anna scoffed.
“It’s like my drawing,” the blonde explained. “I can show someone a picture, and they think it looks great, but if I point out somewhere I think needs improvement, then they’ll be like ‘oh, yeah, I see it now’.”
“You guys don’t have to agree with her just because she’s pregnant, you know,” Anna teased.
“You know, Anna,” Tara chuckled. “I think I’m going to like you even more during this pregnancy.”
“Why is that?” the redhead asked with a laugh.
“Because I know no matter what you’re not going to treat me any differently,” the platinum-blonde answered.
“Nope.” Anna grinned. “You’re the same old brat to me still.”
“Good.” Tara grinned back at her friend.
To a stranger looking in, the two of them would probably seem the most at odds with each other, and they were most of the time, at least when it came to petty issues. Larger problems, though, they always agreed on. The two of them were usually on the same side of whatever debate we had while Paige
and Bailey tended to side with one another.
I found it amusing, too, that Tara thought Anna wouldn’t treat her any differently since she was pregnant, especially when Anna had just spoken to me earlier about keeping an extra eye on Tara. The redhead cared about her friend more than she’d ever admit.
The girls grew quiet as we waited for the NK troops to show up. I glanced up at the sun, but it had barely moved since I’d sat down. We still had at least half an hour until nightfall, and I felt myself grow antsy. My heart rate rose, and I became keenly aware of every detail of the happenings around me.
The group of civilians behind the cover to our right whispered among one another, and every so often I heard one of them let out a small laugh. I couldn’t blame them for trying to distract themselves for the moment, the wait was killing me, too.
Waiting was the thing I’d hated most about being in the service. I could handle going on missions all day, and even doing reconnaissance, but when it came to waiting for the action to begin, that was the part I dreaded the most.
And right now, we didn’t even have the luxury of knowing an exact time the troops would arrive. We had a general estimation, but that was it.
The sinking of the sun worked in our favor, though, since the darkness would make it more difficult for the pilot of the MiG to spot us. We were covered as best as we could be, but there was always a chance we would get found out. The darkness would slim that chance down, though, and we’d be able to get the jump on them as soon as they showed up.
I let out a deep breath as I replayed our plan in my head once more. As soon as the MiG went down, the howitzer would blow the bridge, and then the real fun would begin.
As the minutes passed by, the voices of the civilians around me died down. Everyone, and everything, grew quiet with the serious anticipation the moment deserved.
Each of the girls stared straight ahead with determined looks on their faces.
Anna’s eyes were narrowed, and she had her elbows resting on her knees as she leaned her head back against the sandbag and took a deep breath.
Paige sat cross legged and stared ahead with the blank look of someone who was incredibly deep in thought, and I had no doubt she was running through every last detail of our plan in her head.
