by Eric Vall
“I see.” I pursed my lips as I thought.
Hammer seemed upset about the Captain wanting to go with us to Atlanta, and I could understand why. The Captain was an older man, and he’d already done a lot for his country. He didn’t need to keep this up. He should have the opportunity to live out the rest of his life in at least partial relaxation.
“What do you think?” Hammer asked after a moment.
“I think you’re right.” I nodded. “He shouldn’t go.”
“We should talk to him about staying,” he agreed.
“Actually, I think we should talk to him about leaving,” I said, and Hammer cocked his head to the side. “Heading up to Vermont, I mean.”
“You want to send him up to your place?” Hammer asked.
“I think that’s best,” I said. “Actually, I think we should send anybody who isn’t well-trained enough back up to my place.”
“The civilians?” Hammer asked.
“I think so,” I sighed and leaned up against the door jamb. “I trained them well, but Atlanta is going to be more serious than any other battle they’ve been in, and I don’t want their blood on my hands.”
“I understand,” Hammer agreed.
“But first, let’s talk to the Captain,” I said.
“Thanks.” Hammer smiled.
“Of course,” I told him. “I wouldn’t want to do anything to put him in danger, either.”
Hammer and I headed inside and up the creaky stairs that led to the manager’s office which served as the Captain’s quarters.
“Captain,” I called out since I couldn’t knock with both hand’s full. “It’s Tav and Hammer.”
“Tav,” the Captain said, and a second later the door swung open. “Come in, come in. I did want to see you, thank you for coming so quickly. I just ran into Hammer, so I didn’t expect you right away.”
“It’s no trouble,” I told him, and I handed him the cup of joe. “I brought Hammer back with me, I hope that’s alright. What’s going on?”
“Of course.” The Captain nodded to his lieutenant. “I just wanted to speak with you about the trip down south.”
“Right,” I agreed. “I figured as much, but I don’t think that’s a good idea.”
“What do you mean?” the Captain asked, and his bushy eyebrows furrowed together.
“Sir, I understand you want to do what you can for your country, but you’ve already done a lot,” I told him. “You stayed when so many abandoned ship.”
“I failed here before you showed up,” the Captain said. “I was too nervous about losing men after the initial invasion…”
“Sir, you did nothing wrong,” Hammer interrupted. “You did what you thought was best, and we all respect the hell out of you.”
“Yes.” I nodded. “We aren’t telling you this because we feel like you wouldn’t be valuable. We’re telling you this because we feel like you’ve earned your retirement.”
“You said you were retiring,” Hammer reminded him. “Tav has a place set up where you can do that.”
“What do you mean?” the Captain asked, and he looked more interested now than a moment ago.
“Sir, my crew and I, we have a good setup in Vermont,” I told him. “You’re welcome to go there.”
“Mmm, I appreciate the offer,” he said. “But I don’t want to impose.”
“It’s not an imposition,” I assured him. “You should be able to relax at least a little bit. You are retired after all.”
The last bit was said with a laugh, and the Captain couldn’t help but laugh back.
“Alright.” He nodded. “Vermont sounds nice.”
“I’m going to be sending some of the civilians back home, too,” I said. “They’ll be able to escort you.”
“You don’t think they’ll make it in battle?” the Captain asked.
“You know,” I said with a shake of my head. “I trained them, but they haven’t been in a real battle before, not like we’re going to see in Atlanta.”
“They could panic,” the Captain said. “I think you’re right to protect them.”
“Thank you.” I smiled. “We’ll get some supplies for you all, and you should be back home within a day. I really think you’ll like it there.”
“You know, I wasn’t sure how I felt when you and your crew showed up here,” the Captain admitted. “But you’ve proven to be exactly what we needed. Thank you for your service, Connor Tavish. You’re a true American Hero.”
“I appreciate that, sir,” I chuckled.
“I’m serious.” He looked at me with a straight face. “Not every man, or even every soldier would do what you’ve done. You should be proud of yourself, son. Remember that.”
“Yes, sir.” I nodded and smiled. I truly was touched by his words, and I was proud to know he considered my team and I to be heroes. I never strove for that title, but it felt good to hear it, either way.
“Thanks for that,” Hammer said with a clap on my shoulder as we walked out the door.
“Anytime,” I told him sincerely.
After I left the Captain’s chamber, I made my way back down to the fire and found that everybody was now awake with some coffee in hand.
“Alright,” I said as I approached the group. “Looks like everyone has some coffee, so this seems like the perfect time to start planning our next moves.”
I half expected one of the girls to make a smart ass comment about how we just won a battle and how I was trying to make another plan already, but nobody said a thing. Everybody looked at me intensely, eagerly listening to what I had to say.
We all knew how serious this was, and there wasn’t a moment to spare. There was no telling what state our boys were in down south. For all we knew, we could be the last hope to keep the majority of the NK army at bay.
I had faith that our boys were holding strong, but I’d seen what the NK troops were capable of, and I knew we were going up against some seriously powerful weapons and soldiers with no give-a-fuck attitudes. It was a deadly combination, and we needed to be on our ps and qs if we were all going to make it out of this alive.
“So, what’s our plan, Captain Ranger?” Hammer asked with a small smile. His little joke was enough to allow everyone to relax just a little bit, but I could tell from his demeanor that he was serious.
“We need to get all of our equipment down to our boys,” I said. “We don’t know how many troops of ours are left or what they have, but if we can get some larger plasma weapons down there, our boys will have a fighting chance.”
“What about the MiG?” Tara asked. “Can we haul it with the ship?”
“And the jeeps?” Anna added.
“The ship isn’t meant to hold that much extra weight,” Smith said with a shake of his head. “We could probably bring some of the tankers and weapons, but definitely not the jeeps and MiG.”
“Well, shit,” Tara cursed.
“We need the ship and the MiG, though, right?” Paige asked.
“That would be ideal.” I nodded. “I’m not sure we’d have enough room to carry all the weapons using just the jeeps.”
“So, we’re going to have to split up,” Anna commented.
“It looks that way,” I agreed.
“My SEAL team and I can escort the MiG,” Hammer volunteered.
“Wouldn’t it make more sense for you guys to pilot the ship?” Paige asked.
“Pike and Smith are the maritime pilots,” Hammer explained. “The rest of us don’t have too much experience with that. Besides, I’d rather do what we do best. Protecting valuable targets is part of our job, too. What do you say, boys?”
There was a resounding cheer from the SEALs, and Hammer turned back around and flashed me a smile.
“Alright.” I nodded. “If Hammer and the SEALs are going to escort the MiG, then the girls and I will take the ship. The civilians can ride with us since Hammer has enough men to drive the jeeps.”
“Won’t we get there before them?” Bailey
asked.
“Not if I can help it.” Hammer grinned.
“It’s only about an eight to nine hour trip,” Paige noted. “We could all get there in a day.”
“You’re right,” I agreed. “We can have Hammer’s crew meet us near the water, then we’ll all ride over to find our boys.”
“We might be able to radio them, too,” Bailey suggested.
“We’ll try.” I nodded.
“Great,” Hammer said. “So, when do we leave?”
“Well, we have all day today to get our shit together,” I said with a smile as I looked up at the bright morning sky. “We may as well leave tomorrow.”
“Fuck, that’s quick,” Tara said.
“We don’t have any time to waste,” I said grimly. “If the last stand is in Atlanta, we need to get there.”
“Right.” The brunette nodded.
“So, it’s settled.” I clapped my hands. “This morning we’ll split into teams. Some of us will head back to the attack point from yesterday and go through the debris to see if there’s anything else valuable while the rest of us start to pack up all the supplies here.”
“We can handle the debris, right, boys?” Rivers asked, and the rest of the SEALs nodded in agreement.
“I appreciate that,” I told him with a smile and a nod.
It was amazing the difference in attitude the SEALs had now that I was their leader. They clearly respected the hell out of me, and part of me thought it was because I pushed them to live up to their potential instead of trying to keep them in the shadows like the Captain had. Either way, they had become team players, and I was happy to have them as we headed down to the next, and hopefully the final, battle of this war.
Once the jobs were all assigned, the girls and I headed over to the ship to work on transporting items to and from shore, and tallying them as we went.
Paige kept a master list of everything we brought onto the ship, and the rest of the girls and I made sure to organize things properly.
“So, what did the Captain want to talk to you about earlier?” Tara asked as we carried boxes down to the hold.
“Actually, Hammer and I talked to him,” I explained.
“Is he alright?” Bailey asked, and I could hear the frown in her voice.
“He’s fine,” I chuckled. “We’re sending him and some of the civilians back up to campus.”
“I think that’s a good idea,” Anna agreed. “I’ve been worried about some of them.”
“Me, too,” Bailey said, and I turned to see her flash me a smile. “Most of them haven’t been in intense battles before. I’m glad you’re sending them back home. And the captain, too. He’ll like it there.”
“Anybody would like it there,” Tara laughed. “We have it made.”
“We do,” Bailey chuckled. “But I meant that I think he’ll get along with Rolly and Henry and Betty.”
“Because he’s old?” Anna asked with a playful smirk.
“Well… yeah.” Bailey shrugged.
“You’re probably right,” the redhead agreed.
“You think you bruised his ego a little bit by telling him to retire?” Paige chuckled.
“Maybe,” I said with a small smile. “But I think he’ll live.”
“Yeah, we’re basically giving them the keys to Alanis here,” Tara scoffed. “A bruised ego isn’t going to hurt him.”
“Did you say Alanis?” Anna asked, and she narrowed her eyes on Tara as we set the boxes we were carrying down.
“Yeah, the lost city of Alanis,” Tara said, and she cocked her hip out to the side and put her hand on it. “You don’t know about that place? It’s, like, supposed to be super secret but super awesome.”
“Oh, I know what it is,” Anna laughed. “But it’s the lost city of Atlantis. Not Alanis.”
“The lost city of Alanis,” Paige giggled. “Like Alanis Morriset.”
“Right!” Anna laughed.
“Fuck you guys.” Tara glared at the two of them. “Anna thought that the phrase was the popcorn kettle black, anybody remember that?”
“Oh, we all remember.” Paige nodded. “And we’ll remember this, too.”
“Whatev.” Tara sniffed, but then she joined in the laughter. “I do love Alanis Morriset, though.”
The rest of the day was spent packing up the ship and the jeeps with the cargo that needed to go down to Atlanta with us.
The SEALs returned from the attack site with quite a few plasma guns that were still intact, plus a few larger tanks from the tops of the weapons. A lot of the plasma liquid had been wasted, and the ground was coated in the stuff, so I could only hope whoever came by with a plasma gun wasn’t dumb enough to shoot anywhere near it, but otherwise, we’d gotten everything we could from the mess.
Our weapons consisted of the ones the Navy had stocked up, the ones my crew had brought with us, and what we’d found on the ship and scavenged from the NK troop massacre. We had one hell of a stockpile built up. Whoever was in charge down south was going to have to take us seriously when we showed up with the crazy amount of weapons we had.
I hoped our boys were holding up alright, but the NK soldier we’d interrogated had said there were at least thirty-thousand troops down there, so I knew it had to be one hell of a battle going on.
Whatever the case was when we showed up, we’d be ready for it.
After we finished with packing up everything for the day, Tara made us dinner, and Anna pulled out some of the jugs of vodka Renee had sent with us and passed them around.
It was a quiet evening while everyone contemplated what was to come.
I looked around at the civilians, and I could see the determination and anxiety on their faces. The SEALs had the determination, but not the anxiety. They’d been trained for situations like this, and they knew what they were getting into when they chose this career path.
I had to admire the civilians, though. They hadn’t undergone the same training us military folks had, and they had no obligation to put their lives on the line for their country, but here they were anyways.
I was proud to call them my team.
The next morning I woke before dawn and made coffee for everyone.
After we’d all had our morning fix, we saw the Captain off as he headed toward our home, then the SEALs drove all of the civilians over to the ship so we could load up and get going.
“Alright,” Hammer said as he stepped out of the driver’s side of the jeep and came around the front to reach his hand out toward me. “I’ll see you soon, Captain Ranger.”
“Yes, you will,” I told him, and I grabbed his hand and gave it a good shake. “Take care of my boys on the way down there.”
I gestured to the MiG, the howitzer, and the M51.
“I’ll do my best,” he assured me.
“I’ll see you in Georgia, then,” I said.
“Getting back to your roots, eh?” Hammer asked with a smile.
“Something like that.” I grinned, clapped him on the shoulder, and headed to the raft where the girls were waiting for me.
Once we were on the ship, we watched as Hammer and his crew got back in the jeeps and took off down the road. It was almost surreal watching them drive away in the vehicles we’d used for so long, but I knew we’d see them in a matter of hours.
The girls and I made our way to the front of the ship as the vessel began to move through the water.
The sun was high in the sky, and it reflected on the ocean with a blinding white light that was as beautiful as it was damaging to the eyes.
I squinted against the brightness and thought about how fitting it was that I could barely make out what was ahead of us.
I knew we were headed to Atlanta, and that we’d find NK troops there, but I had no idea what else we’d find, what kind of weapons they’d have, if our boys were alive or not, etc. My mind raced with questions and possibilities as I stared out at the glorious sea and took a deep breath of the cool saltwater air.
“Ughhh,
why did I volunteer to get on the ship?” Anna asked, and she blanched, then she threw her top half over the railing to toss her cookies.
“Ha, ha, Anna’s getting siii--” Tara’s teasing was cut off short as she threw her hand over her mouth, then she flung her top half over the railing to toss her cookies as well.
“It’s gonna be a long trip,” Paige said with a shake of her head.
I laughed and threw my arms over Paige and Bailey while Anna and Tara continued puking their guts out.
It would be a long trip, but it would be worth it to finally finish this war with these NK bastards.
Atlanta, here we come.
End of book 18.
End Notes
Thank you for reading Without Law 18. I’ll start working on book 19 as soon as this book has 100 reviews. So please leave a nice review here.
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This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, businesses, places, events and incidents are either the products of the author’s imagination or used in a fictitious manner. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, or actual events is purely coincidental.
Copyright © 2021 by Eric Vall
