“Affirmative. Slime you bring up the rear; watch our backs.”
“Got you.”
“Come on double time,” Rico ordered, which was all right. I was in the best shape of my life. If I lost anymore girth, I’d have to start punching holes in my belt.
We took off in a good jog, just Rico and me. Laura was changing batteries. She would come up with Craig, following behind us with lights out.
It wasn’t necessary for our guys to be too careful. The locals were firing up the zombies.
“Piccolo, there’s a guy here with some empty quart beer bottles. He says you sent him for them.” Slime didn’t have a call sign.
We slowed and then stopped. “He’s okay, send him up.”
Our new friend, who went by the nickname Sly, quickly caught up. “This is all I could find on such short notice you know. I got some of the guys looking for more.”
Craig took them and quickly made four Molotov cocktails. Supposedly these were named for Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Mikhaylovich Molotov who claimed that the Soviet bombing of Helsinki was really food being dropped to the starving people of Finland’s capital city. The Finnish people called the bombs Molotov bread baskets.
The city was being bombed in the winter of 1939, beginning the Winter War, which is mostly forgotten in the west. However, for one hundred plus days tiny Finland stopped the Soviet juggernaut. Some claim the hand-launched gasoline bombs used on Soviet tanks by seriously ballzy Finnish troops were named in honor of the Soviet Foreign Minister.
Funny the things you learn when you finally give up being a child and start to grow up. The Winter War was only one of the things we studied. There were the French and the Polish resistances during World War ll. There were many important lessons to be learned by the patriot hell bent on restoring our constitutional republic.
“Pacho, you with us?” asked Craig.
I popped back into the moment. “Yep, I’m here; where else would I be?”
“Don’t know.”
“Craig, I want you to take Sly up in front of the zombie armor and find a place where he can drop these down on them. Got it?”
“Yeah, where to Sly?”
“I know just the place.”
With that they were off. Laura was back on the ground and had her eye in the sky back on duty.
“They’re stopping every now and then to shoot back at the civilians,” she offered.
“See if they’re getting any reinforcements.”
“Will do.” She turned the tiny craft around and went back in the direction we had come. It was hard for her to walk and stay orientated on the ground while flying the drone and staying oriented in the air. Glad it wasn’t me trying to do all that.
“Rico …” She had let us get out well ahead of her and had to run to catch up.
“Rico, I don’t see anything coming.”
He smiled a funny lopsided sly grin, “That may mean they have no reserves.”
He got on the radio and gave an update on our situation and what we were doing. We continued to tail the zombies, and the other teams continued to snipe at them. The locals added their bit, giving voice to years of pent-up rage. Too much police brutality for too long had done its damage. This was damage it would take a long time to heal, but that wasn’t our problem tonight.
Our problem was taking out the zombie armor. Could our new friend do it?
We moved up to the main street again. “Let me see if I can get a shot off,” I said.
“What’s it look like?” asked Rico.
I turned back to him. “Doesn’t look good, too many civilians in the way.”
“We’ve got to get ahead of them,” said Rico.
“Eagle Eye, can you get a shot off?”
“Not without endangering civilians.”
“Only fire when you feel it is safe.”
“Roger.”
“We can get a shot off,” called Ricki.
“Do so only if you can do it and not hit a civilian.”
There was no answer. “Come on.” We were off in a run.
I could hear the occasional shot being fired at the zombies, and, in the distance, I could hear what I took to be Tim and Ricki as they let fly. We soon got slightly ahead of the zombies, went up the block to the main street, and set up for a shot.
Rico and I both opened up trying to take out the guy in the turret. He must have had some idea of what we were doing and ducked down.
“Well, at least he’s not shooting anybody when he’s got his head down,” Rico said.
“Yeah, that’s a good thing,” I said with a wild grin.
Before we could move we saw a bright yellow streak fly from a window. It hit near the armored vehicle and exploded.
“Looks like Sly just threw his first Molotov,” said Rico.
I slid up beside him. “Did he do any good?”
“No, he missed.”
“Where is he?”
“I think he’s on the third floor,” said Rico.
“They’re moving out again.”
“Yeah and I think they are trying to get away from the buildings now that they know somebody’s bombing them.”
There was a crowd growing behind the armored vehicle and the men on the ground. We could hear glass breaking and the sound of chants.
I heard an explosion back the way they had come. Moving into a better position, I could see the black SUVs on fire. I returned to cover.
“They’re burning the feds’ cars,” I reported. “This could turn into a full-fledged riot.”
“You think?” was his only reply.
He got up and moved further down the block. Sly launched another Molotov at the armored vehicle missing it again. Finally, a police car came from back behind us, lights going and siren wailing. It was promptly set upon by the crowd.
They tried to make their way to the feds and their armored vehicle, but it proved impossible. People were jumping on the squad car and rocking it. It suddenly shot backwards and away from the crowd in a hail of bricks and anything the populous could lay their hands on.
“Here, this way,” called Rico. “We might be able to get a shot off.”
I came up alongside him. He took the shot. It ricocheted off the vehicle. At that moment the remaining feds climbed up on the armored vehicle, and it sped away in the direction of the raid. We had gone two blocks past our turn toward the park where we were to meet.
“Okay people, let’s get out of here,” Rico called on the radio. “Meet at the location we discussed earlier.”
He switched channels, and called, “Postage Stamp this is Raider.”
After several seconds, “This is Postage Stamp, go ahead.”
“An armored vehicle with several feds riding on top is headed your way. We can’t get near enough to do any good. There is also a riot in progress at this location.”
“Raider, get your people out of there and join the party.”
“Roger.”
Soon Tim and Ricki joined us, but Craig and Eagle Eye were a no show.
“I wonder why we haven’t heard from them,” mused Rico aloud.
“Did you change the frequency back to our channel?” I asked.
Rico looked at the radio. “No! Thanks,” he said.
“Eagle Eye this is Piccolo.”
Craig’s voice came back. “They’re kind of busy right now trying to convince people we are not the police.”
“Do you want us to come up that way?”
“Negative, more of us would only enflame the situation.”
“Sly was helping us. See if anyone knows him or can find him, and try not to use any violence.”
“Wilco.”
* * *
“I just want to know what you are doing here with guns. You say you ain’t cops. Then who the hell are you?” demanded a very angry young man.
“I told you; the cops were raiding a house of some friends of ours, and we’re breaking them out,” said Smitty.
The rioter
turned to Hector. “And why are you here with him?”
“We’re trying to bring down this corrupt system and restore constitutional government.”
“What does that mean to us? Is that going to keep the cops from jumping us all the time? I can’t even go anywhere without getting stopped by the pigs.”
“It’s got everything to do with us and putting a stop to that stuff,” said Hector.
Craig slid over to the passenger’s seat and called out from behind Hector and Smitty, “Anybody here know a guy by the name of Sly?”
“Yeah, I know Sly,” called one of the men.
“He’s working with us.”
“You say he’s working with you?”
“Yes.”
“Let me call him.”
He dialed up a number on his cell phone. “Hey Sly, I’m here with some white dudes and a brother who are armed and shooting at the cops. They say you’re working with them.”
“Okay, okay, I’ll hold them.”
“He says he’ll be right here.”
“Does he say he’s working with them?” asked an older man.
“Yeah, he says he is. Do you mind waiting?”
“No,” replied Hector.
In a few minutes Sly approached the van. “Hey Sly, you with these dudes?”
“Yeah, they’re the ones who gave me the gasoline for this,” he said removing a Molotov cocktail from a gym bag.
“These guys are all right.”
“Sly,” said Hector. “We need to get back together with Rico and the rest.”
“Mind if I come too?”
“Not at all, be happy to have you,” responded Smitty.
“Okay then, let’s go,” Sly said climbing into the passenger’s seat. The crowd parted and let them pass.
It didn’t take long to get to the small park. If Rico was surprised to see Sly, he didn’t let it show.
“Sorry I missed,” said Sly.
“I appreciate the effort. Besides, you’ll get better with practice.”
“You think I’m going to get the chance to practice?”
“I hope so; there is a lot of work to do. The more people we can get, the better.”
“How do I sign up?”
“The best thing to do is get together some guys you know, preferably people you’ve known for a long time. If you want to fight, we’ll supply you with training and if necessary, weapons.
“However, there are a lot of other jobs we need done as well. We’re short of everything almost all the time. We even have work for people who are not able or willing to fight.”
“No, we’ll fight. In fact, I know some dudes who might be interested. How do we get in touch with you?”
“I’ll need some contact information, and I’ll set up a time and a place for a meeting.”
“Where you off to now?”
“We’ve been invited to join the party.”
“I still have two of these,” he said indicating the bag.
“It’s going to be hot.”
“This way I get to find out if you guys are for real.”
“Oh yeah, we’re for real. Come on,” said Rico.
Chapter 24 – Rolling Firefight
It was hard to keep up with the fight. Groups of police were stumbling into patriots, and the battle was shaping up more as a number of skirmishes without any order.
Commander Lee’s unit had pushed the zombies away from the safe house, but they had taken up positions behind a low wall. The police were pressing in from all sides trying to relieve the beleaguered SWAT team.
“Looks like we’re surrounded,” said Shotgun.
“Yep, looks like,” replied Angel.
“How you doing on ammo?” he asked.
“Not too bad, you?”
“I’ve been getting a bit carried away, so I might have to watch it a bit.”
“Stay close to me; I’ve got plenty,” she said with a grin.
“Yeah, that should help.”
“Looks like someone is behind the cops trying to get them off our backs,” she said.
“Yeah, that keeps them from using full force on us.”
Commander Lee just put down the radio. “We’ve got another armored vehicle coming.”
“Great,” Shotgun said.
“This time they’ve called out the feds.”
“Feds?”
“Yeah, Rico’s Raiders hit them pretty hard, took out several government vehicles. A few zombies got away riding on top of an armored vehicle.”
“They got away huh?”
“Yes, but get this, they left a riot in their wake.”
“A riot?”
“Yeah, and some of the rioters are not settling for just throwing things. Some have taken up arms,” Lee informed them.
“That will not help here unless it pulls cops off us,” offered Angel.
“I doubt it. They’ll just let the riot continue for a few days till they can get to it,” said Shotgun.
“We’ve got to get up higher. We need to see if we can find a ladder and get up on one of these roofs,” said Lee.
Before they could work on that someone opened a window and fired on them. “Hold you fire mister,” shouted Angel.
“What are you people doing fighting the police?”
“They attacked us. We’re just fighting back,” she shouted.
“You can’t do that.”
From across the alley and down between one of the houses from where the police were firing, came several shots. “I think they got the civilian,” said Shotgun.
“Hey mister, you still there?”
“Yeah, I’m here. You shot at me.”
“No, we didn’t. That was the cops.”
“I was helping them.”
“This is not a good time to get caught up in the middle of this. They will think you’re with us. Get down and stay out of this fight,” she added.
“Who are you? You sound like a girl.”
“There’s a reason for that pal. Now get down, or the cops will shoot you too.”
Someone threw a gasoline bomb at the cops between the buildings. “Great, if there’s a fire, it’ll be blamed on us,” said Angel.
“Yeah, but that got them moving. Now’s our chance; cover me.” With that Commander Lee got up, ran about twenty yards, and dropped down behind a small shed.
This gave him a better view of the fighting. “Okay, come on up.”
Angel was next. Shotgun looked behind in time to see a cop rise up to fire on her. He rolled over and let loose with several loads of buckshot interspersed with rifled slugs.
There was often only a house or two separating the warring factions. “Come on,” Angel called.
“Can you keep that guy’s head down?”
“Hang on,” she called. With that she moved to where she would have a clear shot from behind a shade tree.
“Okay, come on.” Shotgun jumped up and ran dropping down beside Lee.
“Cover me,” Lee said.
He moved around the shed with Shotgun right behind him and Angel down behind the tree. Lee rose up to fire when a group of cops came around the house next to the tree.
“Get down!” she called and began firing. Now they had cops on both sides again. Neither side could move.
“Can you keep their heads down?” Lee asked Shotgun.
“Yeah, I can do that.” He moved into position so he could fire without endangering Angel.
“Are you ready?” he called.
“Yes,” replied Lee.
Shotgun let loose with his twelve-gauge firing shot after rapid shot as fast as he could pull the trigger. Lee rose up and got off a shot at the police from the SWAT team raid. One of them went down.
He ducked back down when the shotgun stopped. “What happened?”
“I got to reload,” he said.
“Get behind me. I’ll see if I can get a shot or two off.” Lee and Angel were firing on the police who quickly withdrew.
Lee got on the
radio. “Postage Stamp this is Little Bear.”
“Little Bear, go ahead.”
“I’m in a position to fire on the zombies raiding the safe house now. Can you get them out the back way?”
“Stand by.” Commander Lee lay there in darkness listening to all the firing all around them. The smell of CS gas wafted through the air and helicopters could be heard overhead.
This could get bad. Had the other teams drawn off enough cops to give us a fighting chance of getting these guys out, he wondered. It was obvious this fight had descended into a brawl. Who would win might depend on anything, quite possibly who ran out of ammo first.
Civilians sticking their heads out and shooting was something no one could have planned for. For the moment all he could do was wait. Where the heck was that reply?
* * *
“I think I’ve found a way in,” Laura said.
“What’s she talking about and what’s that on her head? Is she from Mars or something?” Sly asked.
Rico laughed, “No she’s not from Mars. We’ve got what we call an eye in the sky, and she’s guiding us in or so we hope.”
“Guiding us into where?”
“We’re still looking for that APC.”
“You mean the one I tried to fire up?”
“That’s the one.”
“You mean I get another shot?”
“Maybe so, if we can find it.”
“Sweet,” Sly replied.
A patrol car pulled out behind the van. “Get down,” Tim called.
“You ready?” he asked.
“I love it when you’re about to shoot something.”
“Now!” With that they both rose up and let the pursuing squad car have it with the AMGs. It just rolled over to the curb and stopped lights still going.
“This is too much fun,” she said.
“Rico, we’re going to have to stop here,” called Laura.
Craig brought the van to a halt. “What you got?” Rico asked.
“I count five, no six, uh oh!”
Slime swung the door open and jumped out followed by Hector and Smitty. I aimed out the other side of the van.
“What means uh oh?” asked Rico.
“They’re shooting at me,” she replied.
“I don’t see anybody,” said Slime.
“No; they’re shooting at my drone!”
“Man, you had me worried,” said Slime.
World War III - Home Front: A Novel of the Next American Revolution - Book One – As Day turns to Night Page 24
