Midnight Skills

by William Allen

  He didn’t have long to wait.

  CHAPTER 64

  “All squad leaders, report to Building Alpha ASAP. Out.”

  The call over the radio made Luke start, and he noticed his father look up, meeting his eyes. Building Alpha was the unimaginative code for the grain elevator seized by Luke’s squad, and the young sergeant felt a jolt of worry for the men he’d left behind to secure the building. They were waiting for Mrs. Pfahl, ‘Suellen, please’ to finish belting on the heavy woolen coat David scrounged from one of the other bedrooms further down the hall when the transmission ended.

  “That didn’t sound good,” David murmured, and shifted the suppressed M4 on the single point sling.

  “What’s that?” Suellen asked while she stuffed her feet into her new boots. New to her, anyway.

  “Just got a call from the Major. All squad leaders to the first elevator. Well, we were headed there anyway,” Luke replied, trying to sound philosophical. From the sound in the officer’s voice, he’d meant right damn now.

  “Let’s get going then, gentlemen,” Suellen remarked. She wasn’t going to let something like a full-scale security alert keep her from her children. “That’s where you are holding Brady and April, isn’t it?”

  “What happened to Captain Brass, ma’am?” Luke blurted out, asking the question that had been bugging him since he’d entered the room. He felt the urgency to get a move on, but for some reason, he waited to hear her words.

  “He was in the breakroom up front getting a glass of water when your men entered. I heard the shots and the shouting, so I used the lockpick I’d made and got to my knife before your father entered.” She looked down again, as she had several times since Luke entered the room, and mumbled another apology. “I’m so sorry. Your dad was just trying to comfort me, trying to let me know everything was going to be all right. All I could think about was getting to my children.”

  Suellen Pfahl had been very pretty once. A tall redhead in her early thirties, Luke guessed. She had those high cheekbones and green eyes that went so well with the pale, pale peaches and cream complexion. Now, she looked emaciated and hollow-eyed, like so many Luke had seen since this all started. He’d inadvertently seen her naked earlier, after his father had backed away from the tearful survivor, and starvation made Suellen’s breasts appear non-existent, and her hipbones jutted out like knife blades. The same as the other sex slaves he’d glimpsed, chained up in the grain elevator offices.

  Seeming to recover her composure once again, Suellen glanced around and tilted her head.

  “Well, come on! Your CO is waiting,” she said, and a touch of the old military bearing slipped into her stance. “Let’s get a move on.”

  David led the way as the four of them trotted down the hall, and they passed no one else before they reached the door. This spurred on the group, and Luke was the first to break into a run after they hit the door leading outside.

  Luke noticed the fresh snowfall as he started back up the slight hill, this time using the already powdered path for more speed. “Angel,” Luke radioed, now knowing the time for radio silence was apparently over. “I’m inbound with three more. Responding to the call out.”

  “Copy that,” came the laconic reply. “I heard. Out.”

  When Luke reached the door, he glanced back to see his father on one side, David, on the other, and they carried the rapidly flagging Suellen up the gradual grade. Given her poor physical condition, he shouldn’t have been surprised.

  Once he got the door open, Angel joined Luke and the duo waited for the others to arrive.

  “Who’s she?”

  “Mother of those two kids we found in the radio room. That’s why they called me to Delta. Officer’s quarters. She was being held there,” Luke explained, then frowned. “She got the drop on my father and took him hostage. I was just getting her talked off the ledge when Bishop tried to intervene.”

  “Don’t you mean Captain Bishop?” Angel asked, his dark eyes barely visible behind the goggles, but Luke could hear the dig. “And exactly how did she get the drop on your dad? He’s plenty savvy.”

  “Yeah. Captain America. Keep an eye on that fucker,” Luke explained, shorthanding things as he went. “As for my father, he was bitten by that chivalry bug. She seems legit, though. Worried about her kids.”

  “Didn’t like him before,” Angel said, accepting Luke’s analysis for now, regarding the woman. He hadn’t killed her, and she did have his father under her control. No, he was thinking about their Special Forces handler. “Not sure if he just doesn’t like us or if he has some game he’s playing.”

  Satisfied Angel was at least partially briefed, Luke asked his question.

  “Any idea what’s going on? Not like the major to go off script like that.”

  Angel shrugged, his shoulders barely moving under the heavy layers of clothing.

  As soon as the three stragglers reached the doorway, Angel stepped back out in the cold, indicating he was returning to his watch position. While Luke watched him go, he caught sight of something further up the way, poised at the river’s edge. A large rectangular shape attached to the docks. A ship, Luke realized. A tugboat, if he wasn’t mistaken. Where the heck did that come from? It wasn’t on any of the briefing material Luke remembered. Filing the thought away, Luke beckoned the others inside before turning to David.

  “Can you see to Mrs. Pfaul? I want to go ahead with my father and report in.”

  “Radio room?” David asked.

  Luke nodded in confirmation before replying out loud. “I suppose so. I heard the same message you did. Not sure where they might have moved the kids, or the other women we liberated.”

  “Go on,” David urged. “I’ll find them.”

  Needing no further encouragement, Luke and Sam Messner took off deeper into the maze of rooms. Since Luke knew the way, his father was content to follow his son’s lead. In only a few minutes, they reached the hall leading to the office and the radio room, to find a pair of guards manning the vestibule.

  “Go on in,” said one of the guards. Luke recognized him as Dale but floundered over the last name. One of the prior service guys who’d come up with his father, so he must have been reliable. Luke remembered him from the trip to Kountze, anyway.

  The other man was not exactly a stranger, but he was one of the men who’d joined the group at Wheatland. In other words, one of Bishop’s soldiers. Luke drew a blank on the man’s name, but remembered he was a staff sergeant. Not unexpected, as most of the Special Forces guys held that rank or higher. Luke remembered reading they needed a bit of time in service to meet the prerequisites before even thinking of qualifying, and then there were all the schools.

  Once past the doorway and into the hall, Luke found some more familiar faces sacked out on the floor. He saw Corporal Castillo, Eddie, sitting with his knees drawn up to his chest, miner’s lamp strapped to his head and his eyes focused on the section of two-by-four resting across his knees. Inside the cone of light, Luke saw the mechanic’s nimble fingers manipulating tiny tools while he worked on a backing of what looked like a small transistor radio. Luke wanted to ask what the man was working on, but didn’t want to take the time, now that he was nearly to his destination. Yet another thing to ask about later, he decided when he exchanged a nod with the man.

  The office felt crowded with so many crammed inside, but at least the extra bodies meant the temperature was more bearable. Luke saw Major Keller seated at the desk, his head bent over a map while he conferred with Captain Bishop, Sergeant Garza, and two other senior non-commissioned officers he vaguely recognized, in addition to Corporal Silcott and Hank Birnbaum from his father’s Texas contingent. When Luke entered, he saw the major look up and give him a nod, followed by quick glance over at the captain.

  “Gunny, Luke, please come in and grab a spot. Sorry I had to bail on your standoff earlier, but we finally got word from higher. The news isn’t good.”

  “No problem,” Sam said before hi
s son could chime in with something more confrontational. “Once the prisoner was properly advised of the situation, we didn’t have any more trouble.” Sam knew Luke didn’t like or trust Captain Bishop, and Sam shared the feeling. Just not the time or place.

  Keller nodded in response to Sam’s explanation and continued his briefing.

  “When I reported our situation here, I got an update on the various ongoing operations in the area. Just got off the radio, which is why I sent out the call. First, the timeline is a shamble, so I don’t have a reliable estimate on when we will be relieved here.”

  “Ran into more resistance than expected,” Sam Messner said, and it wasn’t a question.

  “Yes, more and better equipped,” Keller replied. “Just got one of the radios here synched up with our network, thanks to Sergeant Roland. The assault on the headquarters complex is proceeding, but the Committee forces launched a counterattack. They had forces we didn’t know about or account for, staged out of the parking structures at Arrowhead.”

  While Major Keller spoke, Luke leaned over the desk to get a better view of the map. Nearly two-foot-wide by two-foot-long, the clear acetate-covered map featured a dizzying array of grease pencil symbols and arcane markings, but Luke could see and understand the basic idea. With the fight against the bunkered and entrenched regional headquarters building further south and closer to the heart of the city, this hidden pocket of Committee defenders could flank the bulk of the Allied States units already engaged in a bitter fight on one front.

  “Estimate on their numbers?” Sam asked, and he knew from the shuffling of feet, he wasn’t going to like the answer.

  “At least a battalion,” Keller said. “Looks like Collins kept more of his division together than Higher expected. Plus, there’s at least two batteries of 155mm artillery dug in at the sports complex. And then there’s the tanks.”

  The rumble around the table didn’t get any easier when Luke spoke up. Clearly, this was news to them as well.

  “Their M60s aren’t easy to take down, either, with the extra bolt-on armor,” Luke said.

  “They have at least a company of those refurbished M60s,” Major Keller confirmed, “but they’re using them to screen for the M1s.”

  That bombshell stopped all conversation around the desk for a full five seconds. Luke learned the hard way in Joplin that Fort Riley still had a supply of the surplus M60 in stock, ones that possessed little enough sophisticated electronics for the mutinous crew under Brigadier General Collins to get them back into service. Taking them out cost Luke’s company over thirty casualties, ten of those KIA, the last time around. M60s were a bitch, but M1 Abrams?

  “Do we have anything that can take one of those out?”

  This question came from Abbie Winstead, who Luke noticed was seated on the floor behind one of the SF sergeants responsible for resetting the radios. Sergeant Roland, Luke gathered. Like all successful snipers, Abbie had a way of fading into the background. Despite the severity of the situation, Luke had to bite back a chuckle when several of the men jerked at the sound of her voice.

  “Maybe an A10,” Major Keller replied, and Luke noticed the officer hadn’t been one of those who’d lost track of the young woman. “Otherwise, the answer is no. At least, not head-on. Captain?”

  “A Javelin could take one out,” Captain Bishop replied. “Armor’s too thick from the front, but the Javelin hits from the top, where the armor is thinner. An AT-4 wouldn’t kill one, but might take out the engine from behind.”

  “We got either?”

  Hank asked the question on everyone’s mind, and from Major Keller’s expression, the answer was a resounding ‘no’ for both. Luke knew they had a few of the M72s, the Light Anti-Armor Weapons, or LAWs, but the emphasis was on the ‘light’ side of the equation. The unguided 66mm rockets busted bunkers nicely and could punch out an APC, but against even the M60 Pattons, they were limited to scuffing the paint job.

  Luke took another look at the map and traced one of the routes with his finger before he asked his own question.

  “They’re on the other side of the river, sir? Any of these bridges big enough to support one of those monsters?”

  Keller didn’t know the load limits on the local bridges, but Bishop did, and he laid out the possible routes over the Missouri River via the two closest bridges, one on Interstate 435 and the other on Highway 269. Luke might not trust the man’s intentions, but he could not doubt his training or abilities. That meant Luke needed to watch him closely. Nothing directly pointed to Bishop playing a deeper game, but Luke had learned to trust his instincts, and his instincts pointed him at the Special Forces officer like a loaded gun.

  “All right, I’ll be keeping an eye on the bigger picture,” Major Keller said, looking around the poorly-lit room, “but in the meantime, I want us to push out our perimeter. Luke, I understand you’ve got a fireteam covering the southern approach. Reinforce them with the rest of your squad, move a half mile out on the road, and then set up an observation post and an ambush site using best available terrain. You got me, Sergeant?”

  “Yes, sir,” Luke replied and gave a mission readback to the major. “Take the rest of Second Squad out a half mile, set up an OP and ambush sites, and wait for more orders, sir.”

  “You got it. You eat yet?”

  “No, sir.”

  “We got a mess hall going over near the front doors in the old break room. Take the rest of your squad and go grab something hot while I get the rest of the men out. Gunny, I’ll need you stay and help.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Luke gestured for Abbie, then they picked up Eddie in the hall. Luke would make sure his people inside were fed and watered, then rotate Corporal Silcott and the rest of the team outside. This was the job of the squad boss, the lead sergeant, and Luke knew some of the broad concepts from listening to his father over the years. Other details, like making sure your squad always kept their new helmets on, was something of a work in progress. They still chaffed, and Luke knew the muscles in his neck would be cramping soon, but he led by example.

  Further on, Luke saw David assisting Suellen and gave them a wave to fall in with him. The recently liberated radio operator looked nearly spent, and David kept her on her feet with a hand on her shoulder. He intended on getting some food into Mrs. Pfahl, as soon as they reached the new mess area.

  Luke actually knew where the breakroom for the office workers was situated, and he was not surprised to see the other liberated slaves seated against the inside wall near where the single burner propane stove burned, heating yet another serving of the corn mush most Allied soldiers used as rations. There, he found Gus and Frank, watching over Brady and April while they sipped at something in large metal cups.

  “Broth?” Luke asked, and both men nodded. With the children malnourished, the best approach involved simple food in small portions at first, and nothing was simpler than the water used to boil their mush. Corn mush would have tasted better with a little bit of grilled rabbit to go with it, but after Beatty died, Luke hadn’t much felt like setting the snares.

  Fishing in his assault bag, Luke withdrew a large plastic bottle and set it on the floor next to Brady.

  “Multi-vitamins,” Luke explained. “Take two per day. Give the same to your sister. Helps make up for the deficiencies you get from just eating boiled cornmeal.”

  “Thank you,” Brady said softly, setting the canteen cup aside after draining the contents.

  “You’re welcome. Now help your sister finish up,” Luke chided, his voice almost playful. “I found your mom and she’s coming right behind me. First thing she asked, was if you two were safe.”

  With that, Luke left the thunderstruck youth and went to one of the jerry cans filled with purified water, topping off his hydration bladder, then moved on to fetch his own helping of breakfast from the pot. He had a feeling it might be awhile before his next warm meal, which explained why the major made it an order. The original timeline called for th
e fighting to be done by first light, but from the boom of artillery he still heard in the distance, that plan had been discarded some time ago.

  Behind him, Luke heard the two children squeal with delight at being reunited with their mother. Luke was glad for them, but he didn’t look back when he walked out into the hall and took a knee, guzzling down the bland paste like a power drink.

  He needed to get his mind back and focused on the mission. Needed to survive this last push. Major Keller’s revelation regarding the beefed-up response from the Committee forces made Luke wonder if this was the last hand, with both sides going all-in. His study of history made Luke think of the Battle of the Bulge. The Allies still won the war, but that last gasp from a flailing Third Reich still claimed tens of thousands of lives on both sides. With that somber thought on his mind, Luke finished his breakfast with one last gulp. Better enjoy it while he had the chance.

  CHAPTER 65

  Two hours later, Luke was peeking out at the snow-covered two-lane road running to the grain elevator and wondering if the sounds of the fighting were getting closer. He wasn’t sure, but he could see more columns of black smoke rising in the distance across the river. And the booms of the artillery continued, but Luke had no idea who was on the dealing or receiving end anymore.

  “Think we’ll see the trucks today?” Corporal Silcott asked lazily, accepting the binoculars from Luke when he passed them along.

  “Not likely,” Luke replied, taking a moment to withdraw a relatively clean scarf from under his heavy jacket to clean the lenses of his goggles. “Nobody will want to risk the rigs in this kind of melee.”

  “And what if they don’t come?” Silcott asked, and this time, his voice took on a more serious tone. That was the question, wasn’t it? The patchwork company under Major Keller was committed to safeguarding these supplies, but if the promised fleet of grain trucks failed to appear after a certain point, Luke knew the contingency plan. It called for the troops to withdraw on foot, moving away from the city on one of three pre-determined routes.