“Have you talked to the ladies?” John asked Thomas.
“Last night. They’re fine. Your dad and mom are too,” Thomas replied.
Stryker walked up in time to hear Thomas’ reply and stopped in front of the captain with a question mark in his eyes.
Thomas’ eyes fell down and away from Stryker’s gaze, and then he looked up. “My wife and daughter are living with John’s father and wife in upstate Oregon. They had a cabin on a lake there and I told them all to get to the cabin and hide there until all this passed.”
“How long ago was that?” Stryker asked.
“The day the plague hit.”
“So, we knew?”
“We had some idea things were going to go bad. There was a lot of chatter on the internet and things the intelligence was reporting. But, we had no idea what was coming at us in any specific way. I just did it because it felt like something real.”
“How do you talk to them?”
“I gave my wife a sat phone from our inventory before the plague hit, I thought something was going to happen and wanted to be prepared, just in case.”
Stryker stood rooted in front of the man torn with conflict. Thomas obviously took care of his family before he worried about his own men. He used Navy property for personal use to ease his own mind, while his men suffered not knowing what became of their loved ones.
Stryker looked down at the man and wondered if he could be trusted. In his world, officers didn’t eat until enlisted men did. Officers inspected feet for sores and other damage after every march.
He thought it was not unlike ranchers caring for valuable cattle; but the difference was that those men were people, and shared the same hopes and dreams that the officers did. The officers sent men into battle knowing they would be killed; the ranchers knew the cattle would die from the time they were born.
He realized the Navy was a different world and that he and Edwards were in a place they did not understand very well. Stryker turned his mind away from those thoughts and back to the business at hand.
“We did find a good ambush spot on the way back,” Stryker said, breaking the silence.
“You have a plan?” Thomas asked.
“I have the beginnings of one, but will have it fleshed out by morning.
“Come to my office when you are ready.”
“We’ll brief you in the morning, if that works for you,” Stryker said to the captain.
He turned and walked to the Humvee, grabbed his gear and motioned with his head for Erin to follow.
They walked down the pier, carrying vests and their rifles, and then started up the loading ramp that led to the ship. Stryker stopped after a few steps.
“Let’s walk out the end of the pier.” He motioned toward the water with his head.
“Sure.”
They strolled together until they stood at the end of the dock and gazed out at the ocean.
“What’s on your mind?”
“The Captain.” Stryker glanced at her with a look of concern.
“Okay, what’s the deal?”
“He gave his wife a sat phone before all this started and sent them up north to a cabin.”
“How did he know to do that?” Erin’s face stared up at him with a question mark in her eyes.
“That is the question. He claims there was chatter from the intelligence agencies and claims it felt ‘real’ to him.”
“And you don’t believe him,” she asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“What do you think we should do?”
“I don’t really know,” he admitted. “I guess we have to keep an eye on him and, if something looks wrong, get the hell out of here.”
“Haley and Elle won’t like that. They’ll think you’re being paranoid and want to stay. Edwards will probably stay too.”
“I know.”
“Are you going to talk to him about it?”
“Sure, when the time is right. Right now, I think we just have to let everyone form their own impressions and, at some point, sit down together and figure out if we want to stay or not.”
They stood in silence for a long moment, watching the pillars of the pier part waves as they passed. The sun was sinking in the sky and started to merge with the ocean.
“Let’s get some food and go to bed,” Stryker said. “We can figure all this out as we go. I don’t want to risk losing Haley and the others because I’m being paranoid.”
“And, I don’t want you to stop being paranoid.”
“No worries there.” Stryker gave her a sheepish look, looped his arm over her shoulder and pulled her close for a kiss.
“That was nice,” she said.
“Yes, it was.”
They both turned and walked back to the ship, still carrying weapons and vests. The base was starting to grow duller and less distinct as the sunset bloomed into a grey-shaded darkness.
“After you,” Stryker said, waving one hand below his waist as they approached the ramp to the ship.
Erin walked up the incline with Stryker behind her admiring the view.
“I know what you’re looking at,” she giggled.
“I do too, and I must say it’s like staring at a Rembrandt painting.
“So, I guess you’re an ass man?” She spoke over her shoulder.
“No, I’m a you man.”
“That’s very sweet but you could look at my face every so often.”
“I can’t. The radiance blinds me and makes me insane.”
“I would call you a silver-lounged devil, but only the third word would be true.”
“Tell that to my enemies,” Stryker replied. “I can always use the advertising.”
CHAPTER FOUR
Stryker walked into the officer’s mess the following morning and helped himself to the buffet. He picked reconstituted scrambled eggs, hash browns that looked undercooked, and strips of bacon that he assumed came from a can.
A tired looking cook manned the buffet, looking like a lonely taxi driver at an airport at three in the morning wondering if anybody else was looking for a ride.
Edward’s joined him later, and then Haley, Erin and Elle followed. They had slept in two junior officer’s berths, under the flight deck, the night before. Each room had four bunks, two up and two down, and Stryker and Erin shared a room by themselves.
Stryker outlined the plan for the ambush as they ate and, when he finished, Edwards nodded approvingly.
“We need shooters,” Edwards said. “Maybe around twenty of them, and we need a secondary ambush site in case some get by. Once they’re in the city, it’s going to be a lot harder to deal with them.”
“Agreed,” Stryker replied. “And, I guess we’re going to have to train them in less than two days.”
“We could take them to Pendleton and use the range there,” Edwards added.
“Let’s go see the captain after breakfast.”
They were led to a conference room by one of Thomas’ sailors. A pot of coffee sat on the table, surrounded by cups, and both men poured a beverage and sat down.
“Thanks for coming over,” The captain said as he entered the room. He walked to the table, poured a cup of coffee, and sat down with a look of expectancy.
“There is a large cut in the highway into town,” Stryker said as he rose and walked to the map. He touched the map with his forefinger as he spoke. “It’s here. And, it’s around a thousand meters long, which is the approximate length of the column we saw passing us two nights ago.”
“How far away is it?” The captain asked.
“Around fifteen miles.” Stryker waited for another question, did not get one, so he continued, “The roadbed lies around two hundred meters below the highest ridge. If we have the high ground, this thing should be a turkey shoot.”
“We would love to find a way to conduct the ambush during the day, but when they are stationary, we have to be the attacking force and the losses would be much higher on our side,” Edwards added.
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“And, there is the fact that we have no way of knowing where they will camp for the day, so there is no way to set something up in advance,” Stryker added. “But, we do need to get your drones up during the day and find them, each day, until they get here. It’s the only way for us to know when to move to the ambush site.”
“We already started that today. They are flying high and slow, so there’s no chance the terrorist will spot them.” Thomas looked up as though about to pose a question.
Stryker paused, waiting for the question.
“I guess I can assume you will lead the mission,” Thomas said.
“With Edwards, yes.”
“What do you need from me?”
“A lot,” Stryker replied.
“Go ahead,” Thomas replied, plucking a pen from his shirt pocket.
“We need around twenty shooters.”
The captain made a note on the pad that lay in front of him on the table.
“We need to get your engineers to start fortifying the base and reduce the area you have to defend. Your perimeter is way too large to defend, so you need to find a smaller perimeter. I already told you about getting crew-served weapons and the weapons system on the ship into the fight so I won’t belabor that.”
“You think they will get by you at the ambush point.”
“No.”
“Then, why?”
“Because I can’t discard the possibility.”
“Okay, what else?” Thomas asked.
“We need to get our shooters to Pendleton today to start their weapons training. We have to go to the armory there, get the weapons and ammo, get to the range and show them how to maintain fire superiority in less than two days.”
“What else?”
“Radios. We need at least three. One for Edwards, one for me, and one for Erin, who will be leading the attack from the ridge.
Thomas looked at him with an amazed expression; looked away, and then looked back.
“You are putting a civilian female in charge of my men?”
“Yes I am.”
“Why,” Thomas asked.
“Because your men have not seen close quarters combat and she has, she is rock-solid and unafraid, and I know she’ll do the job and follow orders.”
“I don’t know how that is going to come across to my men.”
“Your problem,” Stryker replied.
Thomas thought it over for a long minute, nodded his agreement with a resigned look and poured another coffee.
“It has to be that way,” Stryker said. “I know it’s going to place you under some pressure, but there is no other way.”
“Where are you two going to be?” Thomas asked.
“We will be at the end of the San Diego side of the cut, on either side of the roadbed, eliminating anyone who gets through the ambush,” Stryker replied.
Thomas looked at each of them in turn, and then nodded his head.
“What else?” he asked.
“We plan on putting explosives in the cut,” Edward answered. “We can get them at Pendleton, but we don’t know what we can find, so we may need your engineers to cut into the rock on the sides of the highway so we can place charges. We can let you know tomorrow.”
“Fair enough. Anything else?”
Stryker thought it over for a moment, and then said, “This is going to be an incredibly confusing and chaotic fight. We will be fighting at night, with no ambient light, and relying on the explosives and the sheer volume of fire to take the terrorists out.”
“I guess I understand that,” Thomas replied.
“I don’t need anyone that won’t just do what they are told. It’s a no brainer and I just need a bunch of guys who will shoot where and when we tell them to shoot. Those are the guys you need to pick.”
Thomas made another note.
“So, how does it all unfold?” Thomas asked.
“Stryker and I are at the end of the cut with the detonators and two SAWs,” Edwards replied. “When the first vehicle is close to us, we blow whatever charges we’re using, and that’s the signal for everyone on the ridge to fill the cut with slugs. We clean up whoever comes squirting out of the cut and that’s it.”
“We do need one other thing,” Stryker added.
“What’s that?”
“We need a secondary ambush site in case they get by us. We can’t let them get into the city and turn this into a house-by-house fight. That’s what they are trained to do, and that will cost us huge. I need to find that site tomorrow, and get four more guys to place mines on the roadway to blow the hell out of them if they get by us. They will need to stay at the site to clean up anyone who survives the second ambush.”
“We don’t have mines.”
“We’ll get them for you and help you plant them, but we can’t be at the secondary site,” Edward responded. “That is going to be on you guys and you’re going to have to find a way to deal with it.”
“There is one other thing, but I don’t know enough about night air operations to even know if it’s possible, but if you can get a few helicopters up, they could possibly take out anyone who got by the ambush,” Stryker said. “We could eliminate the need for the second ambush site.”
“I have to check the ordinance we have available to us now. I think we can dial that up, but I need to get back to you on it.”
“That’s fine, we can do it either way,” Stryker replied.
CHAPTER FIVE
Stryker and Edwards were standing in front of a loosely organized formation of around fifty sailors. They stood in clusters, chatting and waiting for him to address the group.
He nodded at Thomas, who moved next to him, and stood at his side.
“Okay, men, let’s get started.” The captain glanced at Stryker before he continued.
“This is Stryker,” he said, motioning to the man next to him. “He is going to lead the ambush against the terrorists and I am grateful that so many of you volunteered to help out. I am turning things over to him now so he can select who works with him on this mission.”
Thomas stepped back.
“How many of you own personal weapons?” Stryker asked.
Several men raised their hands.
“Please step forward.”
The men complied.
“How many have taken weapons safety courses?”
Several more raised their hands and stepped forward.
“How many have had any combat experience?”
Three men stepped forward.
“You can’t have them,” Thomas said, “They are pilots that I need and off limits.”
“That’s fine, but I need more men.”
“Ask some other question,” Thomas replied. Stryker thought it over for a moment, and then decided on what to ask.
“How many of you have served in a combat zone.”
Several more hands went up.
“Step forward.”
“Okay,” Stryker said turning to Edwards. “You sort them out, get them trained up, and I’ll see you back here around dark.”
Several of his shooters were women. Stryker nodded his approval and turned to Edwards.
“Don’t go easy on the women.”
“I won’t.” Edwards looked away for a moment, then turned back to face Stryker.
“They will probably be the best fighters if you train them hard.” Stryker said.
“Am I taking them to Pendleton?”
“Yes. And take Haley and Elle with you. Drop them at my house, and then go to the armory and get the weapons and ammo you need. You can pick the women up on your way back. Or, you can have them take the training as well. Up to you and them.”
“How are we going to deploy?”
“We’re going to gap them on alternate sides of the ridge, two men spaced every two hundred meters on each side, but alternating on each side so that each group only has to cover 100 meters of targets from each side of the ridge. So, you need to train them to cover those 100 meters of t
heir firing zone and not to wander out of it.”
“Weapons?”
“As many SAWs as you can get your hands on at the armory. We need two, and the others get distributed out to the sailors. If we don’t have enough for everyone, get them in pairs of two, with the second fighter using an M-4. Train them to fire the M-4s when the SAWs run dry and to keep firing until the SAWs are back up and shooting.”
“Explosives?”
“I would prefer Claymore’s, but if you can’t get enough of them, just get more C-4 and we’ll make due. Also, get as many AT-4 rocket launchers as you can find, and pick up the Barretts at my house.”
“Where are you going?” Edwards asked.
“Erin and I are going to the ambush site so I can brief her up on that, and then scouting for the secondary site.”
“We don’t know if we need one. The captain might be able to get the helos in the air for the secondary ambush.”
“I know, but we can’t count on that yet and I want a backup plan.” Stryker turned and started toward his Humvee after nodding at Erin, who followed him to the vehicle.
Stryker stopped, walked back to where Edwards stood, and stopped in front of him.
“You need to go to the gym and have them practice shooting down from the top of the bleachers so they get used to firing from elevation. Make sure they learn how to handle mag changes so that the fire is continuous.”
“I got that. I already thought of it. But, we’re going to ruin the gym floor.”
I’ll put the repairs on my credit card.” Stryker grinned, and then started to walk away.
“Thanks. See you back here.”
Stryker and Erin pulled out of the camp and drove through an empty downtown San Diego, got on the Interstate, and headed east toward Alpine, California.
“Do you think the ambush will work?” she asked.
“If I didn’t, I wouldn’t do it.”
“But you don’t really know.”
“No.”
“Am I involved?”
“Deeply.”
“Good, I want to be.”
“I’ll show you when we get to the ridges. You are going to direct the fight from the top of the ridge.”
“What about you and Edwards?”
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