Within seconds of the crashing sound fading, the air filled with screams and pleas for help in a language that most American’s don’t understand.
The soldiers from the first truck reacted as trained soldiers should in battle; they regrouped and returned fire. They deployed as best as they could, rolling out of the back of the lead vehicle, firing at whatever they could for suppression. They fell back, seeking firing positions under the cover of the fallen tree.
Dan broke Penny’s bond and leapt within seconds of the tree falling. Using the chaos as cover, and his athletic ability, he made it to the Humvee without being noticed. Deb saw her brother and banged on the glass of the rear door for him to help her. He struggled with the handle to free her, but the door wouldn't open. They stared helplessly at each other through the lead lined bulletproof glass. He then looked back across the gravel parking lot to where Penny was hiding.
“Help me!” he yelled.
Without truly thinking, she fired several rounds towards the soldiers, really not aiming, but just getting them to duck. Before the last round left the barrel, she was running towards the Humvee and the panicked star quarterback.
“No,” Dukes said, seeing his daughter leave the cover of her location. He turned his rifle on the closest enemy soldiers to her and put down cover fire.
Penny slammed into the side of the vehicle, using it to seize her momentum. She pulled open the driver’s door and dove in. “Get in!”
Dan looked at her, and it took a fraction of a second for him to react, but he dove in, with her shifting over in the seat for him to enter. She reached across him and slammed the door closed.
“What the hell are you doing?” Dan demanded. “We need to get her out, not put us in!”
“This thing’s bulletproof, you idiot!” Just to prove her point, a dozen rounds bounced off of the front windshield. “She’s safe in here!” She spun around and looked at Deb. “Are you, okay?”
Deb nodded. “He didn’t hurt me,” she said, and then turned out to look for ‘him.’
“Thank, God!” Dan said, now wondering what they were going to do from inside of the vehicle.
“Where is he?”
“Who?” Dan asked, following Penny’s line of vision to the front of the first troop transport.
“Joseph. The asshole that caused all of this,” Penny snarled.
Dan had put a round through the soldier; he was sure of it. But, Joseph was no longer where he had fallen.
“Okay, switch places with me,” Penny ordered. Without asking ‘why,’ he did as he was instructed. “I’m going to pop the locks, and you go out the passenger door and bring her to the front. Got it?”
Dan nodded, and was out the door the second the locks popped. Within seconds he had his sister in the front, and he slammed the door.
Clark watched more soldiers than he thought could survive the fallen tree; crawl out of the tangled mess, and towards his side of the road. He was hidden in the stand of hardwoods across from the church, and had an open firing lane on anyone that might try to circle the opposite way around the tree. What he hadn't counted on was that the Chinese soldiers were using the internal area of the fallen canopy to move around and find their own firing positions on him. Within minutes, he was taking fire from half a dozen positions from inside the tangled mess of leaves and wood. He briefly looked over at Shaw, and saw that he, too, was taking more fire than they had counted on. That is when they heard the sound of a fourth vehicle.
CHAPTER 39
[7]
Perez was beside herself. She had lost video on the situation once the admiral’s focus shifted to New Orleans. She looked at the other screens on the wall, there were several battles taking place around the southeast and mid-west; including the mini-invasion happening in New Orleans.
She needed some bandwidth to see what was happening on the ground. Unfortunately, her battle had fallen out of the category of most strategic, which limited her satellite and processing time. She needed one of the battles to end, or at least a good reason to shift more bandwidth to her mission.
At that second a widget popped up on her computer terminal. It was a text message.
This is Penny. Is this Perez?
Lucy is with me, we need help, and we’re taking fire!
She started typing.
Penny, this is Perez, are you in the Humvee?
Yes. There’s no key, and we’re stuck.
Somehow, even without the ignition key, Penny had activated the terminal link of the Presidential Humvee, and it reacquired the root communications conduit to the Pentagon. This was the same way she had been contacted by Clark and Lucy last week when they were stuck inside the Presidential bunker.
Sending you a program…click AGREE!
Perez sent a terminal override execution file that she had been holding onto just in case Clark had not been successful in making it out of Atlanta; it would have granted her a full override of the systems. She never mentioned to him that she had the program in her back pocket.
Penny tapped the icon on the dash mounted pop up monitor.
The terminal on Perez’s desk lit up with data points. She had systems readouts and summaries of what was working on the Humvee, and what had failed. Ignoring the crux of the data, she instead scanned for one particular line of code. After finding it, she inserted a few commands and then sent it. Within seconds, her lines of data converted to a digital dashboard of the truck’s onboard systems. A quick scan told her that there was more red showing that green on the board; not good. From here, she clicked the digital switch to activate the internal and external cameras on the truck.
Five small screens popped up on her monitor, each showing what the onboard cameras could see.
“Holy shit,” she breathed. She could see the massive tree in front of the vehicle, a firefight was fully engaged to their left, and three young faces from inside the truck showed various levels of panic. Perez activated the microphone and speakers of the vehicle. The sounds of three filled her earpiece, and she spoke to them via her connection.
“Penny, this is Perez. I now have operational control of most of the systems on the vehicle and I can see and hear you. I need you to hold tight for just a second.”
Penny looked around and found one of the cameras mounted to the dash, and nodded. “Okay.” Out of the three, she was by far the calmest.
Perez manipulated her mouse, grabbing the video feed that showed the firefight, and transferred it to one of the blank screens on the video wall of the Pit.
“What’s that?” Admiral Faulk asked, turning to the newly activated screen.
“That’s the Alabama ambush with the Presidential Humvee. These kids are taking fire from organized troops. They’re part of Lieutenant Clark’s team, we owe them a great deal, Sir. I’d like to request more satellite bandwidth, and still get those Warthogs, Sir?”
He simply nodded.
David, Tasha, Emma and Lucy could hear the fighting happening outside of the church walls. The wooden structure of the small building did little to insulate them from the horrors of what was happening feet away from the holy ground.
“Okay,” Emma said, sounding very nervous. “I was hoping I wouldn't have to use this, but…” she held a plastic injector. “I need you to be able to move, and you’re too heavy for us to lift.”
“What’s that?” David asked.
“Adrenaline. But, with your weak system, this might…”
“Do it! Do it, now. I’d rather die fighting, than just lay here!” He ordered, knowing that the shot of adrenaline might be the difference in him being able to protect his daughter or not.
Emma slammed the shot into his thigh, releasing the substance into his bloodstream just as they saw several black clad Chinese soldiers peer through the back of the building’s windows.
Tasha raised her pistol.
“Don’t, they don’t know we’re in here,” David stopped her, the adrenaline not yet fully coursed through his system.
> Lucy stood, pulled back with an arrow, aimed, and released. The arrow shattered the glass pane of the window, and then veered off into the abyss of the back of the church, narrowly missing the face of the Chinese soldier peering in.
“They do now,” she said, knocking another arrow with a smooth move. “I should’ve hit him,” she mumbled under her breath. David looked at his daughter, a girl that was more absorbed with Pinterest a few weeks earlier, than firing an arrow with intent to kill.
The remains of the window exploded from the outside with a shower of bullets. The four ducked behind their wall of wooden pews and books for cover.
“I don’t know if that was such a good idea,” Tasha said, her voice quivered. She then poked her gun and her head above the tops of the benches. She held her breath and started pulling the trigger as fast as she could. She wasn’t aiming; she was just shooting. “GO! JUST GO!” she yelled, still pulling the trigger of the spent handgun.
Emma put her hand on the girl’s forearm and brought her back down towards the floor. “Okay. We’re going to be okay,” she said, pulling the girl into a hug. Tasha let her pistol drop to the floor.
David looked at his daughter; emotions of all types churned in him. He was fearful that he might lose her again. That fear led to anger that his children were being forced to kill in order to survive. That notion really pissed him off, and he turned to look at the altar of the church; adrenalin surging through his veins, like lava. The wooden cross had a few new bullet holes in it, but still hung true. He nodded, knowing that he too, needed to hang true if they were going to live.
David felt power from the synthetic adrenalin pumping him up to action. He slowly knelt, ignoring any pain in his leg, brought his rifle up, and waited for a target to appear. He didn’t have to wait long, as a soldier dashed from one side of the opening separating them from hall, to the other. David following him with the sights of his rifle, and fired; he was greeted by a new spray of bullets from another soldier.
“Damn, it!”
“They’re going to kill us,” Tasha said, her voice warbling, and her hands trembling. “Oh, God, please help us. Oh, God, please!”
David raised his pistol and fired again, sending a man scrambling back around the corner. “That’s not going to happen,” he said.
Lucy drew another arrow back, aimed through a hole in the bunker, and released the shaft with the razor-sharp tip. The arrow pierced the wall next to the opening, followed by a scream.
“That’s not going to happen,” she repeated her father’s words.
Shaw held his fire until the fourth vehicle, an armored personnel carrier, pulled up short of the scene. The arrival of the APC was a potential game changer. He was effectively trapped between the back of the action at the church and the front of the APC. For the second, with Clark and Dukes drawing most of the fire, he was the forgotten pain in the ass that the enemy had not counted on. He moved back a little in his position as soldiers poured out of the APC and began deploying in his direction. He had two choices, try to hide and evade, or engage. For the team to have a chance, he would have to take out the APC. If he couldn’t take out the APC, then it’s guns would cut them down like a hot knife through butter. What he needed was a bigger gun. He rolled into a ditch, further back into the shade of the tree line, moved some leaves over him, and waited for the APC to advance.
“[8]Shit!” Clark saw the APC, and then Shaw edging back into the shadows.
“Shaw, you okay?” Clark toggled his earpiece radio. He got a double click on the channel indicating that Shaw was okay, or at least couldn’t talk. “Are you going after the APC?”
Double click.
“Okay, shit! Give me a second.”
Double click.
Once he saw the APC roll up he knew that Shaw was going to go after it, and he knew that he needed to give him support. He toggled the switch on his satellite phone, hoping Perez was still on the line.
“Perez, this is Clark, over!”
“Clark?” She flipped on her speakerphone so that the Admiral could hear the conversation. “You muted me. Listen, I have…”
“No, damn it! Listen to me,” he cut her off. “If you have anything in the air that can help us, we need it A-SAP! Understood! They have an APC on site, and more fucking soldiers than I think we can handle!”
“Clark, I do. What I was trying to say is that I’m linked into the Humvee I have the cameras active. I can see the firefight, but I don't have visual on the APC. I can’t engage the Warthogs, because I can’t separate you from the enemy.”
“Listen, that APC is going to shear us to pieces once it gets around the downed tree. We’ll mark it, if you can take it out!”
“I can do that.”
“We’re falling back to the church. Don’t hit the church! Got it? Over.”
Perez looked at the Admiral, who nodded, and Perez went into action, coordinating the aerial attack. “Clark, listen, you’ve got just north of ninety seconds! Go! Over.”
“Understood! Light them up! Over,” he yelled, slamming the phone back into this pocket just a spray of bullets grazed along the top of the rock he was hiding behind. “Shaw,” he said, keying the earpiece microphone. He popped up and squeezed off three rounds before ducking back down. “Can you mark the APC? Warthogs inbound in ninety seconds! Over.”
Double click.
“Do it, and then fall back to the church A-SAP. I’m going to give you cover. Understood?” Clark heard the double click as he laid down a suppression fire along the trunk side of the tree that was closest to Shaw.
“I’m on it, too,” Dukes called into the radio chatter.
“Roger that. Everyone else fall back to the church, there’s an airstrike in ninety seconds. GO!”
CHAPTER 40
Shaw acknowledged the action to mark the APC and to fall back, but that was going to be harder than he originally thought. The area was engulfed in a full-on firefight.
He looked to his right, and could see the muzzle flashes from Dukes position in the small wooden bell tower of the historic church; he was getting pounded. It was only a matter of time before the APC moved to a firing position to take him out. Shaw knew he needed to act, right now!
“Shaw, go, now!” Dukes yelled over the radio just as he joined Clark in putting down as much cover for Shaw as possible. Shaw sprang into action and revealed himself from his hiding place. Taking out two Chinese soldiers from the back, he rushed headlong into the felled branches of the giant oak tree and towards the APC.
Dukes ducked back behind his cover to reload his magazine. He knew the APC would have a firing position on him within seconds. He needed to stand his ground as long as he could to give Shaw the break he needed to mark the beast. A dozen rounds splintered off of the reinforced wood of the small bell tower. Thankfully, the tower had a core made of hundred-year-old yard cast bricks, and that was the only difference between his life and certain death.
“Clark, go! I’ve got this.” Shaw said, spotting Clark in his original position. “Fall back to the Church!” Shaw was met with his own set of double clicks in his earpiece, just as someone jumped onto his back, knocking him to the ground.
“Son of a …” Shaw’s face smashed into the aggregate driveway as the weight of the Chinese soldier drove him into the ground. Shaw landed on his rifle, fracturing his right hand. Enemy hands reached around his throat and started squeezing the breath out of him.
The fight was guttural and savage, as hand to hand combat is. Shaw was pinned and couldn’t move his right hand, but as they tussled and struggled, he pulled his left arm from under him, his fingers struggling to find the handle of the three-inch knife strapped to his vest.
The Chinese soldier banged Shaw’s head against the ground a few times, creating a slash across the man’s head that spurted blood. The blood mingled with the soldier’s grip; causing him hands to lose friction.
Shaw felt the man’s grip loosen as he tried to reposition, but the blood made choking t
he life out of the American soldier too challenging. That release in tension gave Shaw just enough oxygen and leverage to put his fingers around the knife strapped to his chest. He pushed against the ground with what strength he had left, and rolled under the man’s spread legs. Shaw saw the man’s expression, for the briefest of an instant as he thrust the blade of the knife straight up through the crotch of the enemy. Surprise filled the soldier’s eyes, followed by shock and then fear as Shaw pulled the knife back and drove it into the man’s throat.
He had precious few seconds before the airstrike, and that’s when he saw the APC pull away from his position, and drive straight into the branches of the fallen tree.
In the chaos, smoke and violence, Dukes lost sight of Clark and Shaw. There was no signal smoke on the APC and he knew the seconds were ticking before the Warthogs came in firing their 30mm cannons. Without the smoke to refine their target, they had orders to level everything; he needed to evacuate, but not without knowing if his daughter was safe.
Knowing that Penny and the others would be running back to the church, he risked a swarm of bullets and looked over the side; half a dozen soldiers, who were firing continuously at the Humvee.
Clark heard the screams of a girl pulsating through his earpiece; it wasn't Penny or Lucy, it had to be Deb. He pulled up to a crouch position, and listened, but all he could hear was the sounds of the firefight…and the far-off sound of a jet engine. “SHIT!” That’s when he remembered Perez telling him that the teens were trapped in the Humvee and she could see them.
Clark took off at a run, knowing he had very little time to get back to the church. Off to his right he saw the purple red whisks of marker smoke billowing through branches of the downed tree. Shaw had done it! He had marked the APC.
[9]
“Perez, can you start the truck? If so, do it now! Do it now!” Penny yelled, looking into one the cameras. “Start the truck! Start the truck!”
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