Doc shook his head and we found our way back to the group which had finished forming up. I patted backs and hugged my friends. When I got to the Chief, I stopped and shook his and his son’s hands and thanked them for coming. Kuppers called me up to the front and we conferred for a second.
“What’s going on Dan?”
“I will explain all during the quick briefing. Trust me, Kuppers. You know me.”
He took a step back and gave me a hard look that only lasted for a moment before crumbling to a softer tone. He looked up to the sky and sighed, then gave me the go ahead sign. I patted his back and made my way to the center of the group. I noticed Brian kept his distance, but always kept one hand on his M4 battle rifle that was strapped to his body. His head and eyes moved in a rhythm, showing his attention to our surroundings. We locked eyes for a sec and he nodded his agreement for me to start. I took his strength and screwed it into place.
“Team, or should I say, family. For that is exactly who you have become to me. With our grumpy pain in the ass grandpa in Kuppers and mom figure from Vic.” Everyone broke into a chuckle but ceased when they saw Kuppers stern look. “We have been together for a long time now, we have fought by each other’s side, bled for one another, and mourned for the brothers and sister we’ve lost. Today, we are going to move on to our objective. I believe we are about to be tested again by Ridder and they are not going to go down as easily as before. We have no back up and no air support. But we have each other, and our belief in what we are doing is right.” I looked around and made eye contact with everyone. Most nodded, others stood there with their arms crossed, but I could see the agreement in their eyes. I continued “Chief, your people should not follow us into the fire. Is there a place we can take you till this is over?”
The Chief stood there expressionless as if carved in stone. His eyes locked on mine. I could see by the slow softening of his features that he had come to a decision. “Major, my people are proud people. Once, we were proud warriors. We will not run with our tails tucked between our legs. I will have one man take some of the women and children to a cave structure nearby. The rest of us will fight by your side, if you provide us with weapons.”
I looked over to Kuppers and he nodded his head in agreement. I then noticed Henry standing like his father, stone and expressionless.
“Henry? Do you have anything to say?” I asked him.
He took a moment, thinking of his words. “We all stand by our Chief. When he speaks, he speaks with all of our voices.”
I thought about this for a moment and came to a conclusion. “It will be great having your people fight alongside us. Could I ask for one man to be seconded to the men and woman standing here to act as guides?”
“Done.”
“How far are we from the objective?”
“Not far, two hours of travel. Over this ridge and down, and then across the small valley.” The Chief answered.
I pulled out my trusty map and looked around for a place to put it. Howser came to the rescue and dragged a crate of ammo over to me. I laid the map on it and made a mark on the map.
“I take it we are right about here. Am I close?”
The Chief looked over the map and grunted his agreement. I examined the objective and the surrounding area. I made some quick calculations and then made some circles in different areas. I waved over Doc, Hase and Kuppers. While they looked over the map, I told them my plan.
“I think we need to break up our forces. Is it possible to move Delta to this point? The rest of us will take a squad or whatever you call it and move to these positions. I also want to have a backup force led by Cupcake here in this dried-out creek. He can also move up and evacuate the wounded from the battle-field. Anything you guys want to add?” I put the pencil down and moved out of their way.
Brian came up and stood by my side while examining the map over the other men’s heads. He noted something and looked down at me. “And which one is us, Boss?”
“Why, we will take our men right up to the doors.”
All heads turned to me as one. I smiled slyly and looked up at Brian.
“They will never expect what I have planned.” I chuckled and fingered my MP5 strapped to my chest.
“What the hell, it’s been a fun time so far by your side, Boss.” He shrugged and accepted my madness.
Kuppers looked up and waved me over. He pointed to one of the circles. “Explain, please.”
So I did, I laid out my whole plan. There was a cacophony of whistles.
Kuppers tilted his head as he thought. “Ballsy. It might just work. Are you sure you were never in the military?”
I gave him a ‘are you kidding me look’. He shook his head and started issuing orders. Brian crossed his arms and watched the group take off to attend to their orders.
“Really think we can pull this off, Boss?”
“As long as we have faith and absolute surprise, I do not see why not.” I wavered my hand in front of me to show I thought we had a so, so, chance. “Just stay close to me. I’ll get you out alive.” I joked.
“Funny, I was going to say the same thing.”
We walked off to gather our handpicked men and meet our guide from the tribe. I was surprised to find Henry standing by the Humvee. We led the six soldiers who would be coming with us. I smiled as Joey was escorted over to us. My plan was starting to shape up.
Chapter 4
We left within the hour, loaded up in one of the canvas side trucks. I took the bed of the truck as Henry, now dressed in BDUs, drove with Brian, and Joey. We took our time going slow, making sure to drive a straight line to the small concrete building.
Brian looked back through his window. “I hope you know what you’re doing, Dan.”
“As long as our new friend Joey is convincing and stays our friend, we should be ok. I just hope the rest of the team have made it to their positions. Henry, when you get to the front of the building, come to a full stop a good twenty yards from the entrance. I want you to stay in the truck, keep it running. Bryan will escort Joey and I to the front. If any shooting happens go to point Bravo and link up with Doc.”
“You got it, Major. Give me ten minutes and we should be there. So far, no one has cracked the doors or come out to check on us.” Henry mused.
He slowed the truck and came to a careful stop. I climbed out the back and looked around trying to see if I could see the team in their positions. I walked around the truck and met up with Joey and Brian.
I took Joey’s arm lightly, and looked over his new BDUs and straightened them to make sure he didn’t look like a prisoner. I spoke to him quietly, so no one but him could hear me.
“Joseph” I made sure to use his proper name, since I wanted to play nice and keep him on our side. “Remember, we are part of Ridder and we rescued you. We need to bluff our way in, without a muss.”
“I will play along, Dan. These bastards tried to kill me and I want to try and find a cure for this monster I created and let off its chain.” He rolled his neck and ran his fingers through his hair to style it the best he could.
We walked together with Brian on the left and I on the right, and Joseph squarely in the middle. We got up to the door and I looked around for a speaker or camera and found none. I motioned for Brian to knock and he reached over and removed one of my steel collapsible batons from my belt and flicked it open with a flick from his wrist. Once at full extension, he pounded hard on the door three times. He waited a second and then pounded two more times.
Five minutes passed and I was about to suggest we go back to the truck when we heard the sound of locks being drawn back and the door opened slowly. It stopped at an inch gap, and a rifle barrel poked through.
A gruff voice followed a second later. “What the fuck do you guys want?”
“Open the door now. Do you not recognize who I am?” Joseph spat out arrogantly.
“I don’t care who the fuck you are! Get lost before I open a can of whoop ass on you three,” the
gruff voice shot back.
Brian stood to the side of the door and was sure the man couldn’t see him, so he lifted his big boot and kicked the door as hard as he could. I shot forward and grabbed the barrel of the gun and yanked just as the door rebounded back outwards. I pushed the gun up and twisted sideways, loosening the man’s tenuous grip. I tried to pull forward, but he must have had his strap for the gun on tight.
But as it turned out not tight enough to stop Brian. He took the gun and yanked it forward along with the man outside. Once the man was free, Brian raised the baton he still held and brought it crashing down on the man’s shoulder. I heard a crack as the bones broke. I took this time to raise my borrowed M4 and entered the building. I looked left then right and when I saw a gun swinging in my direction I pulled the trigger and watched the shape and gun fall to the floor.
I swept around again and moved further into the room. It was small, but had a solid-looking double set of open doors. I moved forward quickly, using small steps like Apache had taught me to control my gun and aim better. If you take large steps, it causes the barrel to swing around and spoils your shot, smaller steps allowed you better control. I stepped just inside the double doors and went to my right, dropping to one knee. Trying to stop the doors from being closed and to make myself a smaller target.
A giant hand landed on my shoulder and squeezed. I knew Brian had entered with me and was telling me where he was. I snuck a look back and saw Joseph by Henry’s side, along with the rest of our group behind him. I pointed to one of the soldiers and motioned him forward.
“I want you to go outside and direct Kuppers’ and Doc’s teams in. Watch the door and stay vigilante.”
He nodded his understanding and moved away. Brian moved to my left and took point. I waited for him to look back at me and wave me forward. I did the same for the next man in line and he did the same, and so on. We moved on down the hallway slowly, making sure to stagger our positions so we could cover each other as we moved on. We came upon a section with more doors lining the hallway. I moved up to Brian’s side and motioned for the rest to hold position.
“How do you want to handle this?” I asked. He was the professional, so I let him take the lead.
He scratched his chin through his massive beard and thought about it. “I don’t think our guys know the rules on doing this kind of thing. We will hold this position. Why don’t you go back and bring in our SWAT team?”
I nodded my head and moved quickly back down the hallway to the entryway. As I passed, I motioned for the team to sit still and keep eyes forward. I came through the double doors and found Kuppers and his team standing by. Once he saw me, he moved up quickly and we took a knee.
“We came to a hallway with doors and rooms, but we do not want to enter them with the regular Army soldiers. We need your guys’ specialty.”
He spoke into his radio, “Apache, Vic, and Cupcake, leave your teams in position and get your butts in here. We need to do some door kicking.” They answered back quickly.
Doc was standing by and heard the radio call. He dropped his pack and ordered his team to stack up at the hallway for support and Kuppers’ team would be on the outside door to protect our rear. Soon Apache, Cupcake, and Vic appeared at the door. We dropped our gear and checked pouches to make sure we had plenty of ammo. I handed my M4 over to a soldier standing nearby and swung my trusty shotgun around to my front. I checked my load out and pumped a round into the chamber. We moved quickly but smoothly to Brian’s held position.
We broke into two teams to handle a door on each side of the hallway. Apache, Cupcake, Vic, and Doc formed one team. While Brian, Kuppers and myself formed the other. We took the right side, and moved down the hallway to our first door. Our back up team moved up and sighted down the hallway to protect us as we cleared each room.
We stacked up at our first door with Kuppers on the left side of the door and me on the right. Brian stood in the middle, waiting for direction from Kuppers to take the door down. I raised my hand, stopping him in his position. I reached out slowly for the door and turned the handle. I smiled at Brian, and then slowly pushed the door open. Brian moved past me and Kuppers followed him. I slipped in behind them and moved left to cover my area of responsibility.
Brian stood in the middle of the room as Kuppers moved in to the right. I scanned the room over the sites of my shotgun. I saw a set of beds on the side of the wall, that had one man asleep on it. I moved forward and retrieved my zip-ties and prepared to restrain the man. Brian moved in and grabbed the man’s elbows and pulled them in close together. I slipped the ties on and tightened them. Kuppers had stepped in and shoved a pair of socks into the man’s mouth, then wound duct tape around his head to hold the socks in his mouth as a gag. We checked the room and withdrew, but as we did, I saw a security badge sitting on the desk. I picked it up without thinking and slid it into one of my vest’s numerous pouches.
The other team met us in the hallway and Brian shared with them that we had one prisoner. They explained to us that they had killed two. We moved down the hallway, taking down rooms as we went. We had cleared two more bunk rooms and one room done up as an entertainment room with a TV, Xbox, and a pool table. We had run up against no other guards or persons, but the other team had taken one prisoner and had found the kitchen, which was loaded with fresh food, and a coffee machine. Guess who was going to brew himself a nice hot cup of coffee?
We brought the rest of the troops forward and checked with our teams outside. They reported back no movement, but were staying vigilante none the less. I radioed back to Delta and ordered them to run a patrol route one mile around the facility and check for other entrances or for Ridder patrols.
We checked the oversize door at the end of the hallway, and found it to be locked.
“I’m going to need some plastic explosives to get this bad boy open.” Doc muttered as he examined the door.
I coughed loudly enough to get everyone’s attention. As one, they turned and looked at me. “Why do you Neanderthals always think of only brute force?” Doc stood up, smoothed down his mustache, and gave me his best cowboy stare.
He turned sideways, and bent over, with a flourish I was not sure he’d ever done. “Well, Cowpoke why don’t show us morons how you are going to open that door?”
I reached into my vest pouch and took out the security card I had taken from the guard’s room, pushed my way to the front and slid the card into a small reader, installed close to the jamb and painted the same color so as not to be seen. The door clicked quietly and popped open an inch. I grabbed the edge and opened it slowly, but made sure my barrel was pointed in front of me. The door opened onto a small room that ended with a flight of stairs going down. Brian produced a wedge, I think he had kept it from the tower so, so-long ago, and shoved it under the door to keep it open. I called more soldiers up and stationed them at the door. Brian looked through them and picked out a couple of men he had used as night guards and trusted. One, was the man that he had a relationship with.
Apache took point with Vic behind her and I behind him. Brian took up the rear with his handpicked men in the middle along with Doc, Cupcake and Kuppers. We crept down the stairs slowly. Un-like back in the tower, I gave Vic at least six steps of cushion between us. If we came under fire, clumping up would be the worst thing we could do. It would be like shooting fish in a barrel for the bad guys.
Apache raised her hand and made a fist. I was sure that meant stop. I dropped to a knee and brought my shotgun to my shoulder, I couldn’t remember what had happened to my MP5. Apache waved Vic forward, so I moved down two more steps and then back to my knees. I tracked what I could see down the sights of the shotgun.
I waited in place till Apache moved forward again, slower this time. Vic waited till he had a good space cushion, then followed. I did the same and took it one step at a time. The stairway was weird, there were no doors on the landings, it just led us down, deeper and deeper. I was sure we were entering one of the circle
s of Hell.
We just kept climbing down and down. We stopped after what I counted was ten floors. My nerves were crackling and driving me slightly insane. I needed to stop and take a breath. I kept waiting for my wounds to hit me hard, but except for a small twinge in my gut and being out of breath, I felt fine. Then my dream came back to me, the Angel who wasn’t Angel.
I shook my head clear, knowing that I had to get my head back in the game. No one spoke, we took a knee and listened to our surroundings and caught our breath. I heard a whirring sound and turned my head up and left to right, trying to track in on the sound. Brian tapped my shoulder and made a shrugging motion. Asking me what was up. I pointed to my ear and up. He took his helmet off and cupped his hands around his ears, trying to isolate the sound.
Brian tilted his head up then down, listening as best he could. He stopped suddenly and stayed still for a bit, then looked up and tapped my shoulder. He motioned downward and then gave me a thumbs up. I tapped Vic’s shoulder and mimicked the same motions that Brian had done, trying to relay the message. He waited a second then slowly, an understanding dawned on his face. He nodded okay and relayed the message to Apache.
She made a hold sign and slinked away down the stairs, slower than if she’d been stuck in molasses. I was amazed how she moved like a sleek Jaguar on her hands and feet. I bet you, she was just as much, if not more dangerous than those big cats. She disappeared around the next landing and was gone for five minutes. Her head and hands appeared on the landing and she made her way over to us. She waved me down to her. I crept as quietly as I could and took the stair next to her.
She brought her lips to my ear and spoke quietly. “That sound is a camera two flights down. It must be old to be making that whirring sound. I am amazed that you heard that. We can make it past the camera, since it has some glaring blind points. Pass the info up the line and we will start moving in three minutes. Tell them to stay in a single file line and move slow.”
Zombie Theorem (Book 3): The End Game Page 16
