But the idiots were just sitting there.
He knew right away that it was because they were more afraid of him than they were of the enemy, and he made a great point of holding their fire until he gave the signal. That’s what they were doing. . . those crazy fools. Couldn’t they see that the time had come; that he hadn’t given the signal because he couldn’t?
That would change once they were being annihilated, but by then it would be too late. He had to shoot off that flare.
“Snarky,” he called, “take five men and crawl around to your right. Right now! Stay low and you can make it. “Jerry, take the rest of the men and go around me to the left and come up on their other side.”
He pointed his automatic weapon in their direction to bolster the urgency of his order.
They moved; their fear of him was paying off. “Faster!” he shouted. “We’ve got to take them out in the next two minutes.”
Mur and Glen shot at the tops of the moving objects. They may have hit clothing, and possibly even grazed a man or two, but if they did, the wounds were superficial at best. It didn’t slow any of them down. It would take less than two minutes for the eleven enemy troops to be in position to kill the two defenders at will.
* * * * *
When Warren had his boat as close to the seventy footer as he dared, he called, “Now!”
Sam raised up with his rocket launcher and his loader raced to shove a rocket shell toward the back end of the tube. The rocking of the boat caused him to miss getting it into the tube on his first try.
The two men with bazookas on the larger boat saw Sam raise up with his bazooka so they called for their ammo loaders. The loaders rushed over with rocket shells as the shooters brought their weapons around to level them at the cabin cruiser.
* * * * *
Chapter 47
THEY were a second too late. The loader found a way to shove a rocket into Sam’s bazooka, and it was on its way before the enemy’s rocket launchers could react. The shell flew crookedly, but speedily, through near gale force winds the short distance between the two boats.
He aimed the shell amidships, but the driving wind altered its flight and it hit forward of the cabin where a shooter was loading a shell into his bazooka. The explosion sent him straight up just as he was ready to pull the trigger. The rocket tube lowered as he shot, and the shell hit the deck instead of its intended target, sending the shell through the deck, ripping apart the cabin below, and tearing away the boat’s bottom.
Several men standing on the deck with automatic rifles fired but their weapons were silenced as they flew into the air and the boat sank.
“Shoot again,” Warren called to Sam when he heard the first explosion. “We’re outta here!”
He accelerated the engine and turned starboard. Sam’s second shot, fired a moment after the boat turned, hit the sinking boat’s stern. That ignited the fuel tanks and the whole boat blew.
Small pieces of debris hit the cabin cruiser and cut several people aboard on their arms and legs, making them the first islanders to sustain injuries.
* * * * *
Less than thirty seconds after Slaughter ordered his men to skirt around to the sides of the rocks where Mur and Glen were hiding, Zach, five men, and one woman climbed up the hill one hundred yards behind them.
Zach guessed Mur must be behind one of the rocks. He knew they were probably too far away to fire accurately with automatic weapons but they didn’t have time to get closer.
“Shoot as we go,” he said to his troops.
All seven opened fire as they advanced toward the crawling men. Their first shots were wild but they adjusted based on the dirt flying around their foes. They finally zeroed in on their targets and sent a barrage of bullets right at them. Four of the eleven died.
The remaining seven looked for cover as shots flew at them from all directions. Two made it to the top of a hill overlooking Catalina Harbor and managed to get over the rise without being shot. Slaughter was twenty yards away and laying low. The hill gave the two men cover from Zach’s people and, as long as they stayed down, Mur couldn’t see them, either.
Their comrades on the other side of the rise had no place to hide from the people coming at them from the rear. All they could do was try to stay hidden from their nearest adversaries. Mur and Glen peppered the dirt above them every time they saw the slightest movement. The invaders were exposed to Zach and his people – but the islanders were just as exposed to them, and because they were upright, they were bigger and easier targets.
The invaders turned and opened fire.
“Down!” cried Zach.
He and his troops hit the dirt. Like their enemies, they could now fire from prone positions and take aim before they shot. It became a matter of who shot the best and who shot the fastest.
* * * * *
Slaughter lost two boats and over thirty men, yet they hadn’t killed a single islander. He was steamed but not discouraged. He still had plenty of boats, men, and ammo. The main thing was. . . now that the two men who ambushed them were occupied elsewhere, he could reach his flare gun without being shot. His troops would finally do what they come here to do – kill every last person at Two Harbors.
He reached again and grabbed the flare gun. Rolling over on his back, he loaded a flare and shot it directly into the sky above him.
The strong, gusting winds made the flight of the flare slow and wavering, but it did not stop the flare from rising or from exploding into a shower of bright lights.
The signal was visible for miles in all directions. Moments later, nine rockets shot toward land. Even though they were out of effective range, the four islanders with bazookas, one at each side of the two harbor entrances, returned fire. Those on the boats, apparently with no limit to their ammo, fired repeatedly. The men with bazookas on land saw that their shots missed badly, and they had limited ammo, so they became more deliberate about how often and where they shot. They fired at intervals in hopes that a shell or two might actually hit the enemy.
Everyone with automatic weapons on both sides began shooting. Those on land shot at the boats. Those on the boats shot at places where they saw gunfire coming from land.
In a matter of seconds, thousands of bullets disturbed air that was already disrupted by howling winds and screaming rocket shells. Frightened buffalo and other animals scrambled for safety at the northwest corner of the island.
The battle was on in full force. Neither side would quit until the other was destroyed.
* * * * *
Chapter 48
YU found the key and let the captain out of his cabin. To his dismay, Wang headed straight to the control room.
“It will be suicide to confront Han directly,” Yu protested. “He is armed, and we are not.”
“You said Ling has my gun, not Han. That might be a positive.”
“Captain, Ling refused to go ashore with us because he hates the Americans; he is an avowed communist.”
“That is true and he may be a lost cause. I believe most of the crew will side with us, though. We are the established leaders.”
“Yes, they will. What we must do is get them aside secretly, one by one, and talk with them. Then we can overpower Han, Ling, and Bai.”
“We don’t have time for that. By the time we talk with even four or five individually, our friends on the island will be dead. I do not ask you to put your life in danger by going with me but realize that I must confront Han right now.”
“Of course I will go with you!”
Wang nodded in appreciation, and they walked into the control area where Han was at the periscope. Ling and Bai stood beside him. Ling had Wang’s pistol at his side.
He pointed it at Wang and Yu as soon as he saw them coming.
* * * * *
Two of Slaughter’s boats near the Catalina Harbor entrance battered the islanders. There were no buildings to shoot at but there were almost twenty boats anchored in the harbor. Simply by firing enough roc
ket shells in that direction, they managed to hit three and sank two of them. Using the same tactic with twenty automatic weapons, they knocked out one of the two men on shore with bazookas.
A third enemy boat turned to take on the cutter. The fourth was heavily damaged by Glen senior’s rocket shell and was sinking.
They moved in on the boat that was shooting at them. When it was three hundred yards away, one of the enemy bazooka shots hit its bow five feet below the deck. The rocket penetrated the cutter’s hull and erupted inside the ship. The impact shook the entire ship and knocked several people down. The helicopter on the deck leaned forward but the restraints that kept it stable on deck stopped it from sliding ahead.
A fire crew dropped what they were doing and hastened to put out the fire inside the bow of the ship. Most of the other crewmembers were able to stay in position. The men with bazookas went forward to the bow with their loaders, and three of them got off shots at the boat that hit them.
Two shells hit the enemy boat and it exploded.
* * * * *
After dropping Zach and the others on shore, Stacey turned the La Sirena around and headed toward the action on the bay. She took the sailboat on a course inside that of the cutter and went after the two enemy boats still peppering the island with rockets and automatic weapon fire. The cutter slowed because of the fire, and the sailboat pulled ahead.
When they saw the cutter and sailboat coming after them, the captains of the two enemy boats ordered their men to abandon their attack on the island. They turned their attention to the threat from sea. McFee and Slaughter warned them to be on the lookout for a two-master sailboat, and one was coming after them now. The cutter was the bigger of the two oncoming boats, but it was damaged and they could see it was already slowing down. Their leaders considered the sailboat to be a major threat, so the bazooka gunners on both boats concentrated on the La Sirena.
As soon as they got them loaded, they sent two of their deadly rockets whistling through the turbulent air at the ketch.
* * * * *
Zach made a quick hand motion, indicating two enemy troops ready to shoot at them. He and two of his people, a man and a woman, got off shots at the same time the two foes fired.
All five shots hit their targets. One of Zach’s the man took a bullet in the head and the woman was wounded in the shoulder. Both enemy troops were killed, one from two bullets hitting him directly in the head simultaneously.
Another of Slaughter’s men rolled away in fright and that opened him up for a shot from behind. Mur shot him in the back.
The two remaining men on that side of the hill realized their location offered no protection. They jumped to their feet and sprinted toward Zach and his troops, peppering the area with automatic gunfire as they advanced.
Again, Zach made a quick hand motion. He and his troops opened fire. Both men were killed before they went, but they got off more than fifty rounds before they died. One more of Zach’s people died.
The two men who made it to the side of the hill where Slaughter crouched in the bushes heard the shots but didn’t know who was killing whom. Either way, the noise was the distraction they needed to sneak up on the shooter behind the rock.
They did a fast crawl to a position across the top of the hill from the rock, keeping low. Anticipating that the man’s attention was focused on the action in front of him, they jumped up and charged over the hill when they heard the exchange of gunfire increasing in volume.
Catching movement in his peripheral vision, Mur turned and shot the first man who came over the ridge – he never made the mistake of focusing on any one thing during a battle since his first tour of duty in the Middle East.
The gunfire on the other side of the hill was dying out as the second man made his charge. Young Glen leveled his rifle at the top of the hill and cut the man down before he made it halfway over the rise.
Except for the sounds of the wind and the battle raging below, it was relatively quiet on the hill, so the second shot stood out. Zach had no idea who fired it but sensed that it came from a second rock. Mur was not alone.
His attention left the hill. His troops checked to make sure the enemy was fully incapacitated, and then he looked out at the bay. His boat, with his wife and parents aboard, was taking heavy fire.
* * * * *
Slaughter found a small opening between two rocks that allowed him to look on the other side of the hill without those crazy islanders seeing him. He watched as they climbed the hill, and then something about Zach caught his eye. The big man recognized the look of someone who knew exactly who and what he was. It wasn’t a swagger – he was too sure of himself for that.
He saw Zach in action and instinctively knew he had come across the man he warned his captains about before the battle began. This had to be the man who helped route McFee. The same man who sunk his ships, destroyed his weapons and ammo, and killed many of his men in the process.
Well, thought Slaughter, I have him in my sights now, so he’ll never do that again. He’s done for.
Slaughter looked out at the two bays. On the Catalina Harbor side, he saw two boats against two, but the sailboat would soon be sunk so that would make it two against the cutter. It would be a toss-up but fortunately, it didn’t matter who won that side. The Isthmus Cove side was a sure win. There were three seventy footers with unlimited manpower and ammo against a forty-foot cabin cruiser that couldn’t last more than another few minutes.
The people on land weren’t a factor. Their bazooka shots couldn’t even come close to hitting his boats. The bazookas aboard the boats would demolish everything on land, including most of the people. Some would survive the onslaught, but his men would kill whoever was left.
The men he brought to this hill were all dead, sure, but he didn’t need them anyway. It was fortuitous that he was here. It gave him the opportunity to kill that man over there personally. Not with a bullet. That would be too fast and too painless. He knew just how to use this guy to help him get out of this impossible situation.
The invasion leader needed to get back to his boat but there were seven people very adept at using firearms between him and the vessel. The other direction would take him away from the boat and there were still over two hundred armed enemies alive over there.
Slaughter saw that Zach was good sized but not nearly as big as he was. He had beaten dozens like him, usually without breaking a sweat. He would overpower this guy, and then use him as a shield until he got back to his boat. Then he would break a few bones – he learned how to do that in the most painful manner while he was in prison. Then, he would break his neck.
The thought of hurting this guy made him smile for the first time all day.
He wished he had time to hurt him even more but even he couldn’t have everything.
He saw Zach walk over to a ledge twenty feet away from the slope he and his people used to climb up the hill. From where he now stood, he had a good view of the battle taking place on the bay. The cliff was over forty feet straight down to rocks that were being battered by breaking waves. Slaughter supposed the man moved to that spot so he could get a better view of the battle. The big man cautioned himself to avoid accidentally knocking the guy over that cliff. It would be the kind of painful death he deserved but he needed the guy to live just a little while longer. Everything in its time.
The big invasion leader crawled to a spot as close to Zach as he could get without being seen. He laid his automatic rifle softly on the ground, which left him with a .38 caliber pistol fitted snugly into the belt at his back. Before Zach could raise his rifle in defense, Slaughter was on him.
Chapter 49
“HANG on,” Stacey yelled to Zach’s parents when she saw the bazookas aboard the boats were firing.
She pushed the throttle to full speed ahead and cranked the wheel to port. That movement, combined with the power of the gusting winds, pushed the rocket shells eastward, and the shots whizzed by, missing the La Sirena by less than two f
eet.
“Nice one!” her mother-in-law called, yelling to be heard over the wind. “They came so close I heard them.”
Stacey turned the boat back toward the enemy. Her previous maneuver had moved the La Sirena twenty yards farther out to sea, which gave the senior Glen a partial view of the enemy boat’s starboard hull. He took aim as Mae shoved a shell into the tube.
* * * * *
Aboard the cutter, Captain Kotchel saw the sailboat was trying to fight off two boats. They were trying to get rid of the closest target first, which moved them into easy firing range of the other boat.
He yelled at the helmsman, “Full speed ahead, straight at that boat on the outside!”
They were already within effective firing range for the six bazookas aboard the cutter. Four of them fired at the boat on the outside, two fired at the one on the inside.
Glen fired at the inside boat at the same time.
* * * * *
The two enemy craft took massive hits to their lower hulls. Half a dozen men on each boat were knocked overboard, some dead and others wounded. Water poured into both boats so fast there was no way they could get to shore before they sank.
Six crewmembers from the boat closest to shore managed to get a dinghy loose from its davits before the boat sank. They rowed toward shore, but automatic weapon fire from the island ripped into the dinghy. One man was killed and the others were wounded. The bullets tore holes in the dinghy’s bottom and it, too, began to sink.
The survivors from both boats were in the water. Those close enough to talk to each other above the noise of the choppy sea tried to decide where to go.
Seeking a Sane Society: Nothing is the Same (The Seeking Series Book 2) Page 20
