by A. American
“You sure he’s not dead?” she said as she pulled the blanket over herself.
The nurse turned around. “Not yet. That’s why you’re here with him—to keep that from happening.”
“My God, he’s so cold. What’d they do to him?” Jess said as she stretched out alongside him.
“I don’t know, but just stay there with him. I’ll be back in an hour to check on you.”
Jess moved around to get comfortable. Despite the circumstances, lying on a blanket seemed heavenly after spending so much time on the bare concrete. Once she was somewhat comfortable, she thought about the man. This must be Shane. You better not get any bright ideas when you wake up, buddy.
After it was clear that the guards and nurse had left the building, Fred called out to her. “Jess! Jess, you all right?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.”
“What’s going on? Why were you screaming?”
“I’ll explain when I can. I’m in here with Shane, I think.”
Fred was surprised. “You’re in there with him?”
Jess pulled the blanket up over her head. “Yes! I’ll tell you later. Now, shhh! I don’t want to get us in trouble.” The reply came out muffled.
Shocked, Fred fell back against the wall. What the hell is going on?
• • •
“We’re going to have to move tonight,” Mike said as he looked across the camp.
“Yeah, we’ve seen everything there is to see on this side,” Ian replied. “Wonder if the music is going to start up again,” he murmured, looking through the spotting scope.
Mike looked toward the small rectangular building, “I don’t know, but it’s obvious they are working someone over in there.”
“Think we should make that a priority when we hit it? See who’s in there?”
“I’d say so, but that’s up to the old man and your officers to decide,” Mike replied, adjusting the binoculars.
Ian laughed. “Let’s be real, it’s totally up to Sarge. Don’t get me wrong, my officers are nice guys, but even they admitted it.”
Mike looked over. “Admitted what?”
“That they’re scared shitless of going in there. They’re National Guard, not Special Forces.”
Mike clicked his tongue. “Well, he told ’em they’d have to earn their money.”
“Well, that’s one thing about them, whatever has to be done, they’ll do their best. There was a lot of discussion after you guys left the first time, lots of talk about what might happen. No one knows other than me and the brass, but everyone suspects they are going to be pushed into action.”
“The captain hasn’t said anything to the troopers about what they’re going to have to do?” Mike asked.
“Not yet, but these guys are smart. Seeing you guys in the camp, they’ve caught on that something’s coming. They think you guys are like Delta Force or something.”
Mike started to laugh. “Delta Force, that’s funny as hell!” He dropped his face into his hands and laughed even harder. When he looked up he had tears in his eyes. Wiping them away, he said, “Delta Force, that’s rich.”
Ian shrugged. “Just telling you what they’re sayin’.”
Mike nodded and went back to observing the camp, still chuckling from time to time.
Throughout the day, they watched the small building with special attention, making notes any time it was approached by the staff. It was during one of these times that Ian called Mike’s attention to it.
“Hey, man, check out seven. Looks like they might be bringing in food.”
Mike was on the spotting scope this time and swung it quickly over to the building. There were three individuals approaching the building, carrying what appeared to be trays.
“Looks like food trays. Let me try and get a count,” Mike said as he focused the scope. “It looks like five trays, could be six.”
Ian made a note. “All right, possibly six, no less than five.”
“Yeah, that’s as best as I can see. Go wake Teddy up. We should relocate soon.”
Ian nodded and slowly backed out of the hide. As soon as he was outside he gave a low whistle. Ted turned around and nodded, then turned back and scanned the area in front of him. Ian started packing up his gear. It wasn’t long before Ted crawled up, cradling the SAW on his elbows.
“You guys ready to move?” he asked.
“Yeah, I figure we’ll get packed up, grab some grub, and move out after dark.”
“Cool. See anything new?”
“They brought what looked like food trays into the building—five, maybe six of them.”
Ted nodded and then looked up through the trees. The tops were gently swaying in the breeze and for a moment he was mesmerized by them. Ian glanced at him, then looked up to see what he was staring at. Not seeing anything of note, he waved a hand in front of Ted’s face.
“Earth to Teddy. Mike thinks we should make that building a priority when we hit the camp,” Ian said.
“Sorry. Yeah, probably,” Ted replied as he pulled an MRE out of his pack.
Ian looked at him for a moment. “You all right?”
“I’m good, just need a vacation,” Ted said with a laugh.
“Me too. Somewhere with a beach and topless chicks.”
Ted dumped out the contents of his MRE pouch. “Ugh, don’t even get started on women.”
Mike crawled up. “Women? What women?”
“That’s the problem. There ain’t none,” Ted said with a laugh.
While they ate, the three traded locker room stories, in whispers, of their various escapades. When the meal was done they packed all of their trash, stuffing everything back into their packs. When all their gear was packed, they did a very careful check of the hide to make sure nothing was left behind.
“Mike, you want to call in to the old man real quick?” Ted asked.
Mike nodded and sat down beside the radio. Putting on the headset, he made the call.
“Stump Knocker Stump Knocker, Cracker One.”
The reply came immediately. “Send it, Cracker One.”
“Moving to next, all’s quiet.”
“Roger that. Cracker Two, report.”
Perez picked up the handset. “Cracker Two, all’s quiet.”
“Roger that, Cracker Two. Stump Knocker out.”
• • •
Livingston looked at Sarge. “Well, sounds like your boys are doing all right. Wonder how long they’ll be out.”
Sarge rubbed the stubble on his chin. “Hard to say. They’ll stay out as long as they need to. Them two are nuttier than squirrel shit, but they are good at what they do.” He paused and nodded respectfully. “Sounds like your crew is all right too.”
“Perez is an old salt. He’s got several tours under his belt. When he was younger, he was one of those guys that always looked for a deployment. He liked it better when bullets were flying past him. As he got older, he came over to the Guard to finish off his retirement. He’s not as gung ho as he used to be, but he’s still a dangerous old bastard.”
Sarge nodded. “That’s good, we’ll need some dangerous ole bastards. And some young ones too.”
“We’ve got plenty of young ones, problem is most of them haven’t been deployed before. We had a pretty big turnover right before the shit hit the fan, lost a lot of seasoned guys. I’m worried how they’ll react when the lead starts to fly.”
Sarge spit into the dirt. “I’m hoping to come up with a way to get into the camp without a lot of shooting.”
“How the hell do you expect to do that?” Livingston asked. “It’s not like they’re just going to let us walk through the gate.”
Sarge shrugged. “They might, if they don’t know any better.” He stood up. “All right, we’ll discuss more later. I’m gonna go talk to Doc and see how everythi
ng is going.”
Sarge left the command tent and wandered through the camp, observing the people as he went. Soldiers and civilians alike had weapons on them. Good for the safety of the settlement, he thought. They would probably need some of the civilians to assist in the assault. The camp was large and was going to be a hell of a job to take down.
Doc and several others were tossing the last of the dirt into the pit. Sarge stood at the edge of the pit, examining the scene. Several pipes were sticking out of the ground with tar paper cones on top.
“Nice piss tubes, Doc,” Sarge said.
Doc looked up, shovel in hand. “Gee, thanks.”
Sarge pointed at the pit. “What’s in there?”
Harmon looked up from where he was throwing dirt. “Ole Doc there is pretty smart. We crushed a ton of cans with a truck, used it to line the pit about three-quarters”—he pointed at the fresh dirt— “and now we’re filling in the rest with dirt.”
Sarge looked confused. “Cans? What the hell for?”
“It acts as a drain field. This will last a lot longer than just digging a pit.” Doc pointed at one of the tubes. “They travel all the way down to the cans. It’s the best we could do.”
“Well, glad someone knows something about this.” Sarge stepped up to one of the tubes. “Allow me to break it in for you.”
Doc shook his head but couldn’t help himself and smiled.
As Sarge was taking care of business he asked, “What about the ladies?”
Doc pointed off to the east. “We made a couple of slit trenches for them over there. There are also some fresh slit trenches for defecating in. They’re deeper, and we have barrels of wood ash for people to pour in after use. Lime would be better, but we don’t have any.”
Sarge had finished up and asked, “Where do we shit?”
Doc pointed at a tarp strung up between two poles as a screen. “Back there’s our slit trenches. You gonna break that in too?” he asked with a grin.
Sarge patted his belly. “Nah, not yet. The crap we’re eating has me bound up tighter than Dick’s hatband.”
“Haven’t had your prune juice in a few days, huh?”
“Fuck you, Doc,” Sarge said with a smile.
Doc smiled back. “Love you too.”
Sarge shook his head and spun on his heels.
• • •
“I’ll take point,” Ted said as he flipped his NVGs down over his eyes. They were slowly heading east to scope out the front gate. As the sun had set, a breeze had picked up. In the green glow of the optics each man wore, they could see the trees swaying back and forth.
The three men stayed about fifteen feet apart, moving in a staggering pace. Ted was in the lead. He would take five or six steps and pause, then Ian would walk up and stop, then Mike would follow. This way, there was always at least one person looking and listening. As they made their way around the camp, the artificial light from the towers helped so they could clearly see their way.
Hearing vehicles outside the perimeter, they halted and took a knee. The times and direction of travel were noted. Ted made sure they were at the tree line but checked his compass—they were now on a northerly track, with the main gate in sight. It was time to start looking for a hide.
Through the NVGs, Ted could see light off to his right. It was in the opposite direction of the camp, which was puzzling. He halted and whispered to Ian that he wanted to check it out. The group moved slowly toward the lights. As they got closer, they could hear people shouting, then the sound of an engine revving up.
Kneeling down, they tried to get a view of the activity, but there was too much brush. “Let’s see what’s up. We may need to find another way,” Ted whispered.
The men dropped their packs and began to crawl toward the voices. After a few hundred yards, Ted stopped, and Mike and Ian came up on either side of him. In front of them was a bus and several Hummers. A group of people sat on the ground with armed men standing over them. Two of the Hummers were chained together, and they were trying to pull the bus out of the deep sand in the road with no apparent luck.
“Looks like they were bringing people in,” Ian said, looking at the group.
“Yeah, I don’t think those two trucks are going to get that thing out either,” Mike whispered.
“Yeah, good luck with that,” Ted whispered back.
The three men stayed in their positions, watching the futile efforts to get the bus out. After an hour or so, the crew working on it gave up. The guards ordered the group to their feet and began leading them toward the camp. The guys waited until the group was down the road, and then began to follow them while staying inside the tree line.
When the main gate finally came into view, the three stopped and took up a position to observe. The gate was a fortified area with sandbag emplacements and a bunker on either side. On the inside of the gate, a large diesel-powered light tower with four bright heads illuminated the area.
The group was led through the gate and disappeared into the camp. Once they were out of sight, Ted tried to get a count on the number of personnel stationed at the gate.
“I got five, how many you see?” Mike whispered.
“That’s what I got,” Ted replied.
“Me too,” Ian confirmed.
“This gate would be a breeze to take down,” Ted said.
“I only see one machine gun, in the bunker on the left,” Ian said.
“Let’s see what their response is like. Ian, you stay here. Mike, come with me. Ian, keep an eye on the these guys and see what they do. I’ve got an idea.”
“What do you want to do?” Mike asked as he knelt down behind a tree.
Ted scoped out the area, then nodded toward the bus. “I want to do something to get their attention.”
Mike rooted around in a pouch on his plate carrier. “I got a thermite grenade,” he said, holding it up.
Ted scowled at him. “No, dickhead, I don’t want to burn it! They’d figure out something was up and start looking.”
Mike shrugged and put the grenade away.
“I’m gonna run out and turn all the lights on and honk the horn. Then I’ll run back and we’ll see what these guys do.”
“That’s stupid! They’ll know someone’s around then. I say burn it. Put that thermite on the engine and it’ll look like an engine fire. Think about it. Plus, we’ll take out one of their busses,” Mike said.
Ted clicked his tongue, thinking about what Mike said. “You’re smarter than you look, kid. All right, go burn it, let’s see what they do.”
Mike giggled like a little kid as he headed for the bus. Once he was behind it, he knelt down and looked around. Confident the area was secure, he quietly opened the engine compartment and took out the grenade, pulled the pin, and wedged it in behind the air cleaner with the spoon up. As soon as he let go of it, the spoon flew off with a pop and a hiss; the fuse lit. He quickly closed the lid and made his way back to the side of the road. As he entered the woods, the grenade went off.
Thermite grenades don’t explode like a typical hand grenade—they simply ignite and begin to burn, turning into a fountain of molten metal as the iron and aluminum burn. Because of this, the engine compartment was quickly engulfed in flames. The fire spread throughout the bus within moments, flames leaping high into the night’s sky.
“Burn, baby, burn!” Mike whispered.
Ted was watching the road. “You’re a pyro, aren’t ya?”
“There’s nothing wrong with having a little fun with incendiaries,” Mike replied with a grin.
“Hey, here they come,” Ted said as he elbowed Mike.
Headlights were coming down the road, and soon two Hummers came into view. The trucks stopped short of the bus and men got out. For a moment they ran around, but without a fire truck, they were helpless. They settled for leaning on the hoods
of their trucks and watching it burn.
“I count six. They must be the reaction force,” Ted said.
“Yeah, did ya see how they ran around? What the hell did they think that was going to do?”
One of the men was talking into a radio and, soon, a UTV side by side pulled up and two more men got out. They stood with the others as the bus burned, gesturing at the inferno. After a few minutes of conversation, the two in what could be assumed were command-like positions got back into the UTV and left, the others staying behind.
It took over an hour for the bus to burn itself out. Once the flames had died down, the six men who had been watching it moved in for a closer look. Now that the sound of the crackling fire had dissipated, Ted could just make out what the men were saying.
“Huh, they bought it! They think it’s an engine fire,” Ted said.
“Told you it would work,” Mike replied.
“Whatever, it’s like seeing Bigfoot. Anyone who wasn’t here won’t believe it.”
After making their way back, the three regrouped. Ted moved them farther back into the bush to compare notes.
“That was a hell of a fire,” Ian said, wiping his nose. “I could feel the heat over here.”
Ted jutted his thumb at Mike. “Yeah, he likes to burn shit.”
Mike smiled. “Now, that’s a fire.”
“What’d they do when they saw it?” Ted asked.
“They started jumping and hopping around, then called for backup, I guess. Two Hummers came running out of the camp.”
“How long did it take them to respond?” Mike asked.
“’Bout five minutes. Longer than I would have thought.”
Ted nodded. “All right, let’s go find us a place to set up a hide.”
They settled for a high spot covered in palmettos. Ian set a security position about thirty feet behind the first. The guys worked on camouflaging the hides, finishing around two in the morning.
“Why don’t you both get some sleep and I’ll keep the first watch?” Ian said as he crawled into the hide.
