“Thank goodness everyone’s safe.” Collin nodded. He turned to Koby and leaned in. “Did you guys find Hopper’s body? I think I shot him but I didn’t see a body.”
Koby shrugged but walked away to go find out.
“This man here helped me not only maintain my sanity,” Collin said, gesturing at Charlie, “but he also organized the entire rebellion we were in the middle of.” Collin handed the radio with black tape to Charlie. “You’ll need this more than me.”
“Thank you, sir.” Charlie looked a little shy about the praise.
“Coordinate with Frank. We still have a lot of work to do.” Collin raised the other radio and pressed the button. “Brady, this is Collin. Do you read me, over.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
The battle to take back the assembly hall and the entire first floor was quick under the coordination of Frank and his new allies.
“They’re falling back,” Frank said.
“Good. I want all the commanders here with me to plan the final takeover,” Collin replied. He was especially keen on seeing Brady again and meeting Dillon. In a few minutes, everyone was huddled around Collin.
“Dad!” Brady strode toward him.
“Good to see you, kid,” Collin said, wrapping him in a hug.
“You too, Pop.”
Collin held him at shoulder length and looked around. “Where’s Tiny?”
“He, uh, didn’t make it,” Brady said, glancing at Koby.
“What?” Collin gaped at his son.
Koby raised his hand. “I can’t talk about it now, man. Too fresh. You know?”
Collin nodded and bit the inside of his cheek. That was an unexpected gut-shot.
Collin eyed the man beside Brady. Dillon didn’t wait for an introduction. He strode up to Collin and extended his hand.
“You must be from Delta Sector,” Collin said, clearing his throat.
“Yes, I’m Dillon and you’re the infamous Collin War.” Dillon said somberly as they shook. Collin noted his strong grip and intelligent eyes.
“I don’t know about infamous.” Collin squeezed his hand. “Thank you for helping my friends.”
“They made a persuasive argument.” Dillon patted him on the shoulder. “I’m sorry about your man, Tiny.”
“Thank you,” Collin said softly. He clenched his jaw. “I will be sure to honor our agreement.”
“My people will be happy to hear that, sir.”
Collin released Dillon’s hand, and the man stepped back. “Great. Now that we everyone’s here, let’s finish with these controlling motherfuckers.”
Brady, Koby, Frank, Hannah, Dillon, and Charlie stood around Collin. They all wore grim, determined expressions.
“Where do we have people deployed right now?” he asked.
“We have about fifty soldiers outside controlling the grounds. They have all three buildings covered, and there is a small team at the depot to alert us if a train is incoming,” Frank said. “Although you guys messed up the tracks so we’re pretty safe there.”
“How about the small building?” Collin asked, referring to the children’s area.
“We cleared it out but will keep some folks there to keep HAGS boxed in.” Frank rubbed his chin and nodded.
“I can bring up another fifty soldiers to take the other building,” Dillon offered.
“Bring them up? From where?” Collin asked.
“We kept a reserve back just in case shit got hairy.” Dillon motioned at Koby and Brady. “We all thought it was a good idea. There are also three vehicles placed to cover the road, but the four we have right outside should be sufficient.”
“I agree. Good thinking, guys. Can you send someone to make that happen?” Collin asked. Dillon nodded and turned to a soldier standing nearby. Collin looked at Charlie. “After we release everyone from their rooms, how many can we take with us upstairs?”
Charlie thought for a second. “Not counting anyone else, I think we could get thirty or more people to step up. Most of our teams are still good to go. I think they took cover in the tunnels during the counterattack. If we can find the microphone that Hopper had, you could put out the word that it’s safe for our guys to come out.”
“More than enough manpower then. Great.” Collin was thankful they had a big crew. With HAGS pulling back, taking fortified positions, his people would be fighting uphill. Not an enviable position to be in. “Let’s get the stairwells. Cover the elevators but don’t use them. We have to find Edison pronto; that’s a bitch of a weapon. Other than that, we have to do this the old fashioned way. Floor by floor, inch by inch. Brace yourselves for a tough grind. They’re backed into a corner and desperate.”
Collin waited for a moment. “Questions? Comments?”
There were none.
“Okay, we all know what to do.” Collin held up a finger. “Last thing, I want the soldiers broken up into groups of ten. Koby you stay here with a team to keep things secured. Send a runner to let Tiny know what’s going on. He stays out there, watching our backs. Dillon and Charlie are with me. We’ll take three teams to the south stairwell. Brady, Hannah and Frank lead three teams to take the north stairwell.”
“Hey, what about me?” a woman’s scratchy voice said with heaping dose of annoyance.
Collin turned. It was Julie. The nurses must have been done checking her injuries.
“You stay here with Koby and treat any injured. Stay out of the fighting.” Collin looked at Koby. “Stick with her, okay?”
“I don’t need babysitters,” Julie snapped.
Collin looked at her with a stern mix of affection and frustration. She knew better. “I know you don’t, and I know you can handle yourself. We both know you need to stay safe because you’re our great hope for the future. Please.”
She crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at him.
“Thank you.”
“But you make sure that bastard pays,” Julie said, her expression softening just a little.
“I will. Promise.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
Each of the teams formed up while Collin prepared to make a statement to Charlie’s units in the tunnels and the remaining HAGS forces using the PA system. Within minutes, a couple dozen people streamed into the assembly hall, which caused a small dust up.
Charlie ran over to handle the situation.
Koby handed Collin the microphone General Hopper had used. Collin scratched off a bit of dried blood, hoping it was Hoppers.
“General Hopper, you are no longer in command here. Doctor Denard you are also relieved of duty, permanently. Today will go down in history as the day Hathaway Agricultural Global Sciences was destroyed,” Collin said into the microphone. He could hear his voice echo throughout the building. “Tyranny never prevails in America. The Republic of California will soon come to learn this fact.”
“To any HAGS or Republic staffers, if you put down your weapons and do not resist, you will be treated fairly. You will be held as a prisoner of war rather than a traitor to America, which is what you are if you continue to fight for HAGS or the Republic of California. And just in case you are wondering, this is Collin War, President of the United States, and you have my word.”
Collin looked at his friends. It was the first time he had said those words with the intention of leveraging his authority, and perhaps, the first time he felt as if he’d done something presidential. Some of them gave him strange looks, probably because they didn’t know. He just unslung his rifle and motioned for the doors. “Let’s go.”
With the first floor cleared, they broke off into their groups and made for the stairwells. Dillon had supplied everyone with radios. Collin already had the ones Koby gave him, and he’d given Charlie the one tuned into HAGS. Yet another fantastic advantage they had over the enemy.
Dillon insisted a few of his men went first. Collin didn’t like being held back, but he understood. So he followed behind the three men leading the way up the stairwell. Nothing happ
ened when they emerged onto the second floor. They left a few guys to watch the stairs while they cleared the rooms.
“Brady, we’re clearing two,” he said.
“Meet you in the middle,” Brady responded.
Dorms made up most of the second floor. Luckily, each dorm’s open floor plan made them quick to clear. Considering the sheer number of soldiers they had, it took less than ten minutes to check everything. Then they were back in the stairwell, racing up to the next floor.
Any other time Collin had gone to each floor, he’d been cleaning with Charlie. It felt weird yet fun to be sweeping them for enemy like his old military days. This shit beat paperwork any day of the week.
Third floor cleared.
Collin was breathing heavy when they emerged onto the fourth floor. He saw a head peek out halfway down the hall.
“Contact, halfway down on the left,” Collin said.
The three lead guys stacked up with Collin, Dillon, and Charlie. They strode down the hall while the other soldiers formed their own snakes and went down another hallway.
A fist rose into the air telling them to halt. Collin held up his fist to pass the signal down. After a count of three, the lead man kicked the door in and stepped aside as the others filed inside, clearing their sectors.
Shots and shouted commands filled the air. Two HAGS men were dead on the floor after the brief fight.
Why couldn’t they just surrender and make things easy, Collin thought.
They secured the weapons and ammo and moved on. Charlie checked the hall and motioned for them to head out.
After another room was cleared, they began to file into the hall. Bullets stitched the wall just ahead of them and dropped the first man. Collin cursed and moved against the wall across the hallway.
One of Dillon’s guys returned fire while the others backed up. Collin crawled forward to the corner. He looked back at the soldier who returned fire.
“Where?” Collin asked in a soft voice.
“Right side in a doorway,” the man said, pointing with his hand in the direction.
Collin inched up and popped around the corner, firing. He was low so the ambusher’s rounds went high. His struck the gunman in the gut and chest. Collin’s third shot missed the man’s head by inches as his body crumpled to the floor. His screams filled the air until Collin’s fourth shot ended the terrible noise.
The team moved up without him needing to say anything. He fell in line with them, bringing up the rear. He glanced back and saw their man’s body in the hallway. He didn’t like leaving him there even though he knew they couldn’t help him.
Since the door was already open, the lead soldier peeked in. A few rounds cracked past his head and punched through the wall on the far side. He ducked back, grabbed the dead body and pulled him out.
Collin had an idea. The walls probably weren’t very thick.
“Hey, I’ll give you covering fire,” Collin said. Their odd looks prompted him to add, “Through the wall. Stay on the far side so I don’t get you guys. I think he’s in the back corner, here.”
The soldier looked at Dillon. He shrugged, leaving it up to the soldier. The man flashed Collin a thumbs up.
“You peek again and when he shoots, I’ll open up and you guys go quick.”
“Okay,” the soldier said.
He looked around the corner again and ducked back. Three rounds nearly got him. Collin squeezed his trigger like it was going out of style. His M4 blasted rounds through the wall at the gunman while his friends entered the room.
A few seconds later and the room was cleared.
Collin radioed Brady. “All clear.”
“Same here. See you upstairs.”
CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
“Sir,” Charlie said before they returned to the stairwell. “We need to secure the command center as soon as possible.”
“What are you suggesting?” Collin asked.
“Let the other guys clear each floor while we make a beeline for the top. There’s no telling what they’re planning up there and the less time they have to prepare, the easier it’ll be for us to end this. Plus the longer we wait, the more time Hopper has to call in support or find a chopper to come get his ass.”
Collin had thought about that before. He didn’t like the idea of splitting up his forces, but Charlie had a point. General Hopper was a fool, not an idiot. The man wasn’t going to go down without a fight.
“Koby, this is Collin. Do you copy?” Collin said into his radio.
“Yeah, what’s up?”
“Are the barracks cleared?”
“They just finished. Just a final sweep through and I was about to call it in to you,” Koby explained.
“Great. Get a team up to the top floor of tower two or, better yet, on the roof if there’s cover. Have them harass the command center and any other HAGS personnel they see,” Collin said. “If you can get a machine gunner or two, that’d be great.”
“I like it,” Koby chuckled into the radio. “Consider it done.”
“Send another ten troops over here to reinforce Brady’s soldiers.” Collin paused for a second. “And keep an eye on the sky. HAGS has choppers, and we don’t know if they can call them in. I’d hate for us to get caught with our ass hanging out.”
“Copy that,” Koby said.
“Brady, this is Collin. Do you copy?”
“Go ahead, over.”
“You guys keep clearing each floor. Koby’s sending ten more troops your way. We’re going for the command center and then we’ll work our way down to you.”
“Okay,” Brady’s reluctance plain in his voice. “Happy hunting.”
“You too, Son.”
“Thank you, sir,” Charlie said.
Collin just gave him an approving nod. “Let’s go.”
“I’m sure you all heard that,” Charlie told the others. “We’re not stopping until we reach the command center. Prepare to sweat because we have a ways to go.” He smiled. “The upper floors are restricted. HAGS built a gate to keep unauthorized personnel out. We’re going to blast through that gate before we proceed.” Charlie pointed to the men with the explosive charges. “They will hear us, so keep your heads on a swivel.”
“Oorah,” Collin said on instinct. It made him pause and blink. The soldiers looked at him, some of them smiling. He chuckled. “Old habit.”
Collin followed the others up the stairs. He was fifth in line. The moved in small groups of four, pausing at each landing. The first four would go up and wait on the landing while Collin led his group. He was breathing hard at the eighth floor. At the tenth, they called a short break.
Brady’s group radioed in that they’d cleared the fifth floor; they’d run into heavy resistance but took them out with only one casualty. Things seemed to be going fairly well. Almost too well for Collin’s taste. He couldn’t believe that the stairwells were unguarded. They were probably the easiest feature to defend.
“Collin, this is Koby. Support team is in place on tower two and will begin kicking ass. Over.”
“Thanks. Over.” Collin smiled.
“How much farther do we have, sir?” a soldier asked Collin.
“No idea.” He shrugged. “Charlie?”
“Two more floors. We’ll take them slower,” said Charlie. The HAGS radio crackled, and Hopper’s voice could be heard. They stood there, many of them leaning against the wall catching their breath.
“Execute Order Fifty-Seven,” General Hopper said. “Execute Order Fifty-Seven.”
Collin looked at Charlie. “What the hell is Order Fifty-Seven?”
The soldiers raised their rifle up watching for any surprise attack. Charlie shook his head and shrugged.
“Let’s hurry,” Collin said.
They began to ascend the stairs. At the eleventh floor, Collin’s radio crackled and a coughing, gasping voice said, “Gas, gas, gas.”
Collin’s heart raced. His instinct was to cover his face but he didn’t see anything, not th
at all gas weapons were visible. Could they really have used a chemical weapon?
“Oh God,” a soldier groaned.
“Double-time it,” Collin said. They began to run upstairs. “Everyone clear out of the building,” he said into the radio. “Gas attack. Get out. Brady, get out now! Koby, Julie get out! Gas, gas, gas!”
The door above them opened. Shots echoed painfully in the concrete stairwell. A canister fell past them in the gap. Wisps of yellowish smoke trailed the canister as it fell. It clinked against a railing a few floors down and hit a wall.
“Run!” Dillon shouted.
As they ran up, Collin glanced down and saw a yellow cloud filling the stairwell. Luckily, most of it sank down but it was still dangerous. He didn’t want to die like that.
“The door’s locked,” a soldier yelled.
“Blow it,” Charlie shouted.
“No more explosives.”
“Fucking shoot it open,” Dillon said.
Collin called Brady. “Brady, are you guys out?”
“Working on it now,” Brady said. Background music filtered through, and he heard a ding.
“Where are you?” Collin cocked his head. Was that “Girl From Ipanema” playing?
“In the elevators headed down,” Brady said. “It was the fastest way since the stairwell was filling with smoke.”
The soldiers started shooting the door.
“Koby, Julie are you out?” Collin shouted.
A garbled response came back. He couldn’t hear it.
“What? Say again,” Collin shouted.
The shooting stopped, and the door clanged open.
“We’re clear. All clear,” Koby yelled back, blaring in Collin’s ear. He winced and pulled the radio away as relief flooded him. He shoved the radio in his pocket and prepared to enter the twelfth floor.
CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
The twelfth floor was split into three sections. Hopper’s command center was the farthest section from the stairwells for security reasons.
Fighting for War: The Collin War Chronicles Book Three Page 19
