“Okay got it; stand by.”
Soon a medic appeared and took over. “Ma’am what’s your address?”
* * *
“Old Timer,” radioed Rico. “I need you back over here.”
“Rog.”
He quickly pulled up next to Rico’s hiding place. “What you need boss?”
“We’ve got a civilian casualty. We hadn’t planned on this. I need you to pick him up and deposit him in front of the nearest emergency room. Try to do it without being seen.”
“That’ll be a trick.”
“Then get back here. We might need to be extracted. Here’s the address.”
“I’m on it.”
* * *
“Angel there’s a team coming to secure the house. I need you to go out front so they can find the place.”
Outside in the alley she saw the APC flare up as its fuel tank caught fire. Somebody had gotten there first. There appeared to be firing all around them. “Right, on my way.”
The old woman was crying. Angel put an arm around her. “Please don’t worry, we have someone on the way to pick up your husband and take him to a hospital. Can you get a few things together to take with you?”
“I’ll try. Is he going to be all right?”
“I’ll be fine Gail. I don’t know who these people are, but they got better looking soldiers than we had.” He and Angel smiled at each other.
Angel looked back at his wife. Ever so snidely she said, “I think he’ll be okay.”
She went outside to meet the other unit. There was fighting behind them now as more police joined the fight.
“Hey over here,” she called out to the team looking for her.
“You the one with the wounded civilian?”
“Yeah, he’s in there.”
“Come on, we’ll get him on the stretcher.”
The medic looked up as the stretcher team entered. “He’s stable. I’ve given him something for the pain. Help me get him on the stretcher.”
Angel and the others carefully picked up the injured veteran and laid him on the stretcher. Craig pulled up as they got him outside. He went around and opened the rear doors.
“Okay, guys put him in here.” He turned and looked down into the astonished face of one of the fighters.
“Judy!”
“Daddy?”
“What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be with your mother.”
“I thought you were tired.”
“Who’s with mama?” he asked.
“I sent Chuck over. He’ll keep an eye on her.”
“Isn’t he a little young to be grandma sitting?”
“He’ll have to grow up a little, that’s all. Like someone used to tell me, ‘It’ll be good for him’.”
“Smarty.”
“Daddy what are you doing here?”
“Right now I’m getting this wounded civilian out. What are you doing here?”
“Doing just what you taught me, defending the Constitution against all enemies foreign and domestic.”
Father and daughter embraced like she was a little girl again. Finally, they pulled back. “Can you hit anything?”
“Of course, you taught me to shoot.”
“Did I teach you to keep your head down and get behind something before you shoot?”
“Not that I recall, but I sorta’ worked it out for myself.”
“Your patient’s ready, buddy.”
“Got to get back to work.”
“Yeah, me too.”
“Please be careful, my dear.”
“I will Daddy; you be careful too.”
“Hey it’s me; I’m the most careful guy in town.”
“That’s the fiction you tell Mom.”
“Don’t you think she believes me?”
“No.”
“Got to run.”
“Bye.”
“Okay ma’am hang on. We’ll have him to the hospital in just a few minutes.” Craig helped her inside then closed the rear doors.
As he drove away Judy just stared after him. She almost felt little again, and then got back to work. People were still trapped in the safe house.
Chapter 23 – Running Interference
“Piccolo, I think we’ve got a chopper coming.”
“Is there anything you can get under?”
“Not really.”
“Understood.”
Rico looked over at me. “We may have a problem brewing.”
“We’ve got to find an effective way of dealing with those things. If it gets low enough I can spray him with this,” I said lifting my ASG.
“Maybe so.”
“What do we do with our prisoner if we have to go outside?”
“See if you can find something to tie his legs up, and connect it to the cuffs.”
“Will do.” With that I was off looking for something to bind the prisoner’s legs together, so that he couldn’t run out on us.
The chopper shined a spotlight on the buildings around the intersection. The police car had almost burned out. When the light hit near Hector and Smitty, Tim and Ricki opened up with their sniper rifles.
They must have hit something because it turned away. However, it didn’t go far.
“Piccolo?” called Laura.
“Go ahead.”
“I think they’re trying to find a way around us. Their helicopter appears to be looking for a safe passage for them.”
“Got it,” Rico radioed back.
“They may decide this intersection’s too hot and not worth the effort, at least not now,” I offered.
“Maybe so. I’ll pass what we have up the line and see if there might be a change of plans.”
Rico stepped outside so the prisoner could not hear him. “Postage Stamp, this is Raider.”
“Raider go ahead. They have a helicopter which appears to be leading zombies around our position. We think they are trying to reinforce their strike team.”
“Stand by.”
Rico stood in the shadows for long minutes waiting for a reply. Finally, “Raider – Postage Stamp.”
“Go ahead.”
“Do whatever is necessary to slow down any reinforcements.”
“Understood, and we need somebody to look after a prisoner.”
“Stand by.”
After long seconds, “We have a team on the way.”
“Understood, out.”
He switched back to his unit’s frequency. “Fireman leave your position and join me.”
There was a pause. “Repeat.”
“Got to work on our radio procedures,” Rico said aloud.
“Fireman, this is Piccolo. Get down from your position and join me.”
“We’re doing great up here.”
“I need you down here; there has been a change of plans. Move with dispatch.”
“What?”
“Get your asses down here.”
“Sure.”
“Eagle Eye, did you copy?”
“Affirmative.”
“I need you down here as well.”
“Roger, Wilco.”
Rico stepped back inside and checked on the security of the prisoner. “You look like you’re not going anywhere soon. We’re moving out. We have a team coming to look after you. When this is over, you might want to find another line of work.”
Rico motioned for me to follow. Once outside we were joined by Hector and Smitty. Tim and Ricki came jogging up as well.
“Pacho, stay here till the team arrives. The rest of you come on and keep your eyes open.”
“What are we doing?” asked Ricki.
“First we’re going to find Laura and Slime.” With that he led us off.
Ricki was grousing, “I thought we were supposed to hold this intersection. Does anybody know what’s going on?”
Smitty held his hand up and whispered, “Cool it, the boss knows what he’s doing.”
“When’s he going to tell us?”
Rico stopped. “As soon as we fin
d Laura and Slime, that way I won’t have to explain everything twice.”
We were off moving quickly without further complaint. We soon located Laura and Slime hiding behind some bushes in the shadows.
“You guys looking for us?” asked Slime.
“Yeah, you’re hidden pretty good,” offered Rico.
* * *
Phil and Cy pulled up to where I was hiding. “What you got?” Phil asked.
“We have a policeman tied up. Come on I’ll show you.”
They masked their faces and went in. “There he is.”
“Okay, we’ll take it from here,” said Cy.
“You’re not going to hurt him are you?” I asked.
“Heck no, we’re going to take him safely away from the fighting and let him go,” replied Phil.
Cy knelt, “Look buddy, I’m a cop myself. We’re not going to hurt you. We’re just going to get you out of here and take you somewhere, where you can’t interfere.”
“You’re a law enforcement officer?” he said, his eyes as big as saucers.
“Yes, I am.”
“What are you doing here, working with terrorists?”
“Listen, I was pushed into this. The FBI tried to set me up with some underage girls. These people are not terrorists. Terrorism just a rap the government is trying to lay on these patriots. Now, come on.”
With that they helped the officer to his feet and into their vehicle.
* * *
“How are we doing Laura?” asked Rico.
“We’re doing okay. They’re taking squad cars around us three blocks in this direction,” she said pointing. They’re running without lights, and we don’t hear any sirens.”
“My guess is they may not have enough men to come after us and reinforce the raid. We have new orders. Instead of staying in one place, we’re supposed to get mobile and do whatever we can to slow them up.
“Craig’s not back yet, so we’ll have to move out on foot. Unless we come up with a better idea, we’ll set up at ground level, and still use the two-man fire team approach. Come on.”
He led us off down the narrow side street. After three blocks Laura called out, “Rico, this is where they’re bringing the cops through.”
“Okay we need a meet up point in case we get separated. Can you see anything within a few blocks?”
“Hang on.” She was in her private world inside the helmet flying the little drone.
After a few minutes she said, “Yeah okay, four blocks that way,” she said pointing, “and two blocks left there is a small park or at least there are some trees and benches.”
“Okay, Eagle Eye I want you across the street and a block over to the left. Fireman, stay on this side of the street but go over two blocks. We’ll set up here. Everybody got it?”
“Right boss,” called Smitty. The fire teams moved out.
“Laura, stay close. Let us know the next time police cars are coming.”
“Will do.”
About that time I came running up to join them. “Pacho, see if you can find something to dump out in the street to slow them up.”
“Okay,” and off I went. I quickly found a few trashcans and part of a bicycle. These we dragged out into the street. This might slow them down a bit, I thought. Rico was dragging up some debris as well.
Rico returned to Laura leaving me to organize the roadblocks. Suddenly, a siren wailed and whoever it was turned on his rotating lights. I was caught out in the middle of the street. I got down behind a lamppost, and when he was in range opened up with my ASG. This magazine was all buckshot.
I blew out the windows, and he swerved but kept coming. He hit a trash can and sent it careening across the street. There were cops in the front and back. They fired out the windows at me with what I took to be AR-15s. I hit the deck behind what little protection the lamppost offered. The other teams opened up as the patrol car twisted and turned down the street finally crashing into a fire hydrant.
Two cops got out of the back and began firing at me but were quickly cut down by the crossfire. Water flew high around the disabled car. I went over and helped myself to their ammo.
“Sorry Rico, that one came from a side street I hadn’t checked yet,” offered Laura.
“Don’t worry about it. You can’t be everywhere at once.”
“Here comes an ambulance from the direction of the raid.”
“We’ll let it pass.” Soon the ambulance was working its way up the street.
“Rico, we got three more squad cars coming. They’re just a few blocks away.”
I came running up. “What took you so long?” Rico asked.
“Ran into some old friends.”
“We got some more coming.”
“Wait a minute. These are not regular pig-mobiles. They’re black SUVs. I’m in behind them now. I don’t know for sure, but I think the feds are getting involved.”
“Okay people look alive we got three government SUV’s coming in. Let’s see if we can stop them,” radioed Rico.
“Here they come!” I said.
The black SUVs came into the firing zone at high speed with their little red bubblegum machines blinking. Rico and I opened fire first. They sped past, but to our amazement the vehicles stopped right in front of Hector and Smitty.
Heavily armed zombies poured out of the vehicles. Hector opened up with his Mosin and Smitty with his .308, but they could not match the firepower of the M-16s on automatic. Led by Rico, we fired them up from behind with our ASGs.
They moved to a position where they were protected from us only to be brought into sight of Tim and Ricki. One of the SUVs had steam billowing out from under the hood and boiling water pouring out into the street.
The men were pinned down with no place to hide. Suddenly Laura called out, “There’re four more coming, and they have an armored vehicle with them.”
I turned to Rico, “This just gets better and better.”
“We won’t last long against that armored vehicle,” said Rico.
Then into the radio he said, “Eagle Eye, move down two blocks and set up there.”
“Roger.”
“Fireman, I need you to move down two more blocks.”
“Will do,” Ricki called back.
“Come on,” Rico called to us. He led us over one block, and we had a good view of the first SUVs.
“Let’s disable the engines.” We quickly set up and had put holes in the engines of the vehicles.
“They’re turning on our street,” called Laura.
“They’re going to send that armored vehicle after us,” said Rico. “Come on.”
“What are we going to do boss?”
“I don’t know; I’m making this up as I go along.”
Rico led us in a direction away from the others one more block away from where the SUVs had been hit. As we reached the next block the surviving troops were surrounded by the relief.
“Okay, see if we can disable an engine or two. Eagle Eye, hold your fire for the moment.”
With that we opened up with our sniper rifles. The occupants of the vehicles immediately returned fire, but sprayed it down the street wildly. Within a few seconds, the armored vehicle turned our way and raced down the side street.
We ducked into an alley. Rico radioed, “Okay guys we’ve drawn off the armor, open up on them.”
The armored vehicle stopped near our position then turned right and drove past us. After the remaining force began taking fire, it took off down the block and hurried back toward the intersection.
We rushed down an alley and intercepted it. We went after the guy on top with the M-16. The vehicle stopped and backed up.
He sprayed the alley. Lights were coming on everywhere and people were going to their windows. Then something unexpected happened.
Debris, including people’s garbage started raining down on the hapless armored vehicle. People came out in the street and began pelting it with bricks and bottles.
“Piccolo.”
“The feds are getting bombed out windows,” called Eagle Eye.
“Yeah, we’re seeing the same thing here.”
The armored vehicle buttoned up and moved cautiously down to the main street. Once away from the buildings, the cop on top opened it back up and sprayed automatic fire at the building behind the embattled zombies.
It actually looked comical decorated with people’s garbage, but it was still lethal and as yet we had no defense against it.
“Piccolo, this is Old Timer.”
“Go ahead.”
“I’m back at your last known location. Where are you now?”
“Not far, come to this location.” Rico directed Craig where to find us.
“Boss that thing’s been up a long time. The battery has got to be getting low,” said Laura.
“All right bring it on in.”
“I have a fresh battery pack.”
“Good; get it back in the air as fast as you can.”
“Piccolo are you seeing this?” said Eagle Eye.
“Negative what have you got?”
“People are coming out of the buildings and are firing on the feds, some on the ground, some from the buildings. The zombies have left the vehicles behind and are moving out on foot with the armored vehicle in the lead.”
“Hey what are you guys doing?” called a voice from behind us.
“We’re shooting up the cops,” responded Rico.
“But the cops are white.”
“So?”
“Hey, you’re all right. They’ve mad a lot of people mad, so we’re getting together; you know what I mean?”
“You got any gasoline?”
“No, but if you got some, I can get you the bottles.”
“We need to take down that armored vehicle.”
About that time Craig pulled up. “What took you so long,” asked Rico.
“I stopped to buy a gas can and some gas.”
“Lovely, this gentleman here can help us with glass bottles. Can you get us some torn up rags for fuses as well?”
“Sure that ain’t nothing. Be right back.”
“We’ll be moving down the street after the zombies.”
“Zombies? Oh yeah, zombies, that’s good.” With that we moved out.
“Okay people, get mobile, keep ahead of them, and hit them when you can do a good job of it.”
“Understand we are to find positions affording the best opportunity to fire but do not become decisively engaged,” answered Eagle Eye.
World War III - Home Front: A Novel of the Next American Revolution - Book One – As Day turns to Night Page 23
