by Terry Mixon
She nodded and started putting on her shoes. A minute later, they were standing in the tent with the drone operators again. Colonel Montalvo stepped up behind the woman that she’d spoken to last time. “Why don’t you show Miss Cabot what we’ve got, Bridget.”
The redhaired woman nodded and focused her attention on Brenda. “Two air cars are inbound from the city with the same number of people. This time we have ultraviolet-capable drones in the area and can see that there is definitely some kind of weapon in the back.
“They’re proceeding past the point they stopped last time but are still moving slowly. Based on their projected trajectories, I wouldn’t be surprised if they split up and came at us from different directions.”
Brenda had been examining the screens while the woman spoke and nodded. She could see a dotted line that showed the projected paths and a solid line that showed where they’d picked up the air cars. This definitely didn’t look like a scouting mission to her.
“I’m going to need someone to get the ultralight ready,” Brenda said. “I need to get up there before they do something to us.”
Colonel Montalvo put his hands on his hips and narrowed his eyes. “You never really did explain your plan. I think it’s time you trotted it out, Miss Cabot. If it’s too dangerous, I’m going to nix it right here.”
Brenda laughed. “There’s dangerous and then there’s dangerous. We don’t know what the range is on their weapon, so everyone on this hill is in grave danger as long as they’re out there.
“What I’ve got in mind may put me in a little bit more danger than you, but it gives us the opportunity to capture one of these air cars. Those people think they’re safe out there in the dark. We need to prove them wrong—dead wrong.”
The Colonel watched her without saying anything for a few seconds and then slowly nodded. “There’s something to what you say. Based on the clues you’ve given me, I think I understand what you have in mind. If you’ve guessed wrong, you’ll be a sitting duck.
“Worse, if you’re not nimble enough, you’re going to fall straight down to the ground. Let me assure you that falling to your death is no fun. I’ve never personally tried it myself, but the outcome is pretty inevitable and gory.”
Brenda knew that if something went wrong during her attempt to capture one of the air cars, it might flip over and send her falling hundreds of feet to her death or simply crash. She had some ideas on how she could mitigate that risk. If she blew it, this might be the end, but if she got it right, this would give them mobility that they desperately needed at this point.
“I’m willing to take the risk,” she said. “We’re going to get one chance at this, and we need to make sure that we do everything possible to make this mission a success. I assume you’ve already got your snipers watching the pilots?”
The colonel nodded. “We’ve got them covered. We only have four accredited snipers left in this force, but we have several other folks that are exceptional shots under normal circumstances. If things go right, we should be able to take them all out in a single volley of fire.
“I’ve got the trained snipers focused on the people operating the weapon. If we take them out, the pilots won’t be firing at us.”
Brenda shook her head. “You need to reverse your priorities. I want to take out the pilots in the first salvo. If one of those pilots moves at the last moment, I’m going to go all the way down. If one of your folks miss one of the people manning the weapons, you can deal with that with follow-up volleys. If you miss a pilot, a moving target is much more difficult to take out.”
That made the officer scowl. “This isn’t some kind of game, Miss Cabot. If you guess wrong, hundreds of people could die in an instant. This is no time to act as if this were a chess game and that we’re just moving pieces on the board. We’ve got to get this absolutely right the first time.”
“You’re damned right we do,” she said firmly. “We need those air cars. The odds of us getting one with me dropping on it are pretty good. The odds of both of them crashing if we do this the wrong way are damned high. If you’ve got any suggested alterations to my plan, now is the time to let me know what they are, because I’m leaving shortly.”
Montalvo sighed but nodded. “First, I want you to lay out explicitly what your plan is so that we can make this happen in the safest manner.”
“I plan to fly up in one of the ultralights and have the pilot drop me into one of the air cars as soon as your snipers take out the Asharim. I’ll have the ultralight come in as slow as possible, and I’ll use a rope to get into position.
“The key is going to be timing so that the ultralight doesn’t overshoot the target. I’ll let go when I’m directly over it and fall into the back. From there, I’ll go to the controls and bring it down safely on the hilltop.”
He shook his head. “That’s too risky. If you botch the timing at all, you’ll go over the side. If you’re too early and you hit the side, you’ll drop. You need to be secured to the rope until you’re ready to let go.
“We have specialized harnesses with quick releases. You can go over the side on the approach and the ultralight will make its pass, just above stall speed, and the pilot will tell you when to release your harness. You do that right, and you’ve got your best chance of landing inside the air car. Otherwise there’s just a little bit too much motion for my comfort.”
“Fine,” she said. “Let’s do it.”
Someone had already taken the liberty of getting the ultralight prepared, and it was running softly at the bottom of the hill on the far side from the city and the air cars. Climbing down the path in darkness took more time than Brenda was comfortable with, but it wasn’t exactly like she had a choice.
The radio earbud told her that the air cars were splitting apart and coming in on both sides of the hill just as they’d guessed they would. No one knew the exact range at which they could open fire, but if it looked like they were setting up for a shot, the snipers would immediately take them out. That meant she needed to get into position as quickly as she possibly could, or this plan would collapse.
One of the men got her into the harness and attached a rope to her. The ultralight operator quickly took the other end of the rope and secured it to the frame.
“This should be secure enough, Miss Cabot,” the man said. “We’ll circle around and come in from the rear of air car two. If they take an interest in us, I’m going to try to dodge as well as I can, but no promises.”
If the enemy saw them and started shooting, they’d probably die in the air before they hit the ground. Yet one more thing that she hoped didn’t happen.
The little craft was surprisingly quiet as it taxied out into the grass between two men holding glow sticks. The pilot sped the ultralight up and quickly pulled into the air. Being off the bumpy ground was something of a relief, as Brenda wasn’t sure that they wouldn’t hit a pothole and flip over.
Once they were in the air, the pilot began circling around the hill and pulling out over the forest. As he did so, he handed her a set of night-vision goggles similar to the ones he already wore.
“Put these on. There’s a button on the side to activate them. That should give you a better view of what we’re coming up on.”
She did as instructed, and the darkness gave way to a greenish-colored view of the landscape below them. It was kind of weird, but she could clearly make out the trees in the forest and the hill they were leaving.
A few minutes later, she saw the air car that was their target. It was floating slowly toward the hill, four beings either controlling the craft or manning some kind of equipment that certainly looked like a weapon with a wide barrel pointing toward the hill.
“I sure hope they don’t get into range to open fire before we get there,” she muttered.
“You and me both,” the pilot said. “Get ready to go over the side. You’ll be hanging directly below the seats here. The disengage for the harness is right there in the center of your chest.
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br /> “Grab the ring when I say, twist it 180 degrees counterclockwise, and then pull. The harness will pop open and you’ll drop, so keep your arms pointed up until you land. Don’t touch the ring until you’re ready to drop.”
“You can bet I won’t,” she said fervently. “How long will it take us to get there, and how am I going to know that you’re ready for me to drop?”
“It shouldn’t be more than two or three minutes. You’re going to feel the aircraft slow down greatly as we get near the air car, and I’ll shout loud enough for you to hear when it’s time. I’ll say, ‘go go go!’”
Brenda nodded. That wasn’t something she could get easily confused over. It also sounded vaguely familiar. She thought she’d heard something on a television show about people parachuting and using that same kind of command.
Her plan started going awry just as they were beginning to approach the air car. It spun toward them and began moving in their direction.
“Crap,” she muttered.
Moments later, the pilots she was watching slammed sideways in their seats. A few seconds later, distant cracks announced the shots that had killed them. A quick look showed no one standing in the back of the air car. The snipers had gotten the weapon controllers too.
The air car began to spin in place and drift sideways as she watched. One of the pilots must have struck the controls. She instantly knew this air car was a loss. It was already falling toward the ground and moving in a way that made it impossible for her to board.
“Change course,” she ordered. “Take us to the other air car.”
The pilot obeyed and lifted them over the hill even as Colonel Mulvaney was calling on the radio.
“I think we’ve disabled everyone,” he said crisply. “The second air car is still upright, so it might be salvageable. Or somebody inside might be playing possum. Be very careful.”
The approach to the second air car went a bit more quickly than she’d anticipated. She climbed out on command and lowered herself under the ultralight, her heart pounding as she swung and twirled in the wind. The ultralight flew up above the air car and pulled back, almost into a stall, before she heard the pilot shouting for her to go.
Brenda released the harness and fell. She had to admit, her actions terrified her more than she’d imagined they would. At first, she thought she was going to miss the air car entirely, but she landed just inside the back on the far side of the interior compartment.
She slammed against the side of the vehicle and bounced back into the interior, her ribs complaining at the abuse. Once she was on her unsteady feet, she drew her flechette pistol and put some precautionary shots into both of the bodies sprawled in the back of the air car next to the weapon. She couldn’t be sure that they were dead and wasn’t going to take any chances.
Neither of them twitched, so the snipers had done their work.
She did the same to the pilots, being careful that none of the trajectories led toward the controls. The very last thing she wanted to do was damage the air car after she’d captured it.
Now that she was certain the Asharim were really dead, she unstrapped one of the pilots and dragged his body into the back with the two weaponeers. The seat that opened up was a gory mess, but she forced herself to sit anyway and fumbled with the unfamiliar straps as she secured herself. If something went wrong, she didn’t want to be thrown from the air car.
The controls were unfamiliar to her, but just the action of trying to figure out what they meant gave her the memory prompts that she’d been hoping for. The knowledge of how to control the air car slipped into her mind, and she reached out confidently to manipulate the controls, starting the air car toward the hill.
“I’m in control,” she said. “Don’t shoot.”
“Copy that,” the Colonel said. “We’re standing down, and you’re cleared to land. We have a spot opened up for you and some men out with glow sticks.”
It took a couple of minutes and a few false starts to get the air car settled down safely on the ground, but she managed it and was finally able to unstrap, stand up, and get out of the air car. Triumphant hoots from the soldiers who’d gathered around the air car greeted her.
“Get those bodies out of this thing,” she said brushing her hands across her filthy clothes. She desperately needed a shower, but she’d settle for just changing her clothes and getting the blood off her skin.
Then she could go over the vehicle and the weapon. Harry and Jess might need something like this desperately by morning, and if they called, she wanted to be ready.
41
Harry felt like he’d only just gotten to sleep when Rex shook him awake. He sat up abruptly and rubbed his eyes before standing.
“They’re on the move,” Rex said. “Looks like they’re attacking the city. I guess that means they can see in the dark well enough to manage.”
“What time is it? How long until our scheduled attack?”
“It’s only a little bit after midnight. Our attack isn’t scheduled to kick off for another three hours.”
Harry walked out of his tent and headed toward the larger command tent nearby. Inside, he found his senior people already hard at work trying to interpret what the drones were sending in.
Since it was late night, they didn’t have any ultralights in the sky. They’d probably have to change that if they wanted to have decent real-time operational data that had actual human beings with a wide-angled view of the entire battlefield.
“Tell me what they’re doing,” Harry told the lead drone operator. “Are they attacking all around the city perimeter, or are they focusing their attention on a single location?”
The man turned in his seat, though he kept one eye on his screen. “It seems like they’re running a general attack all the way around the settlement, probably to keep the defenders guessing which way the primary attack is going to come from. The drones have already picked out a major force that’s going to be moving on a specific section of the settlement wall. Based on the equipment I’m seeing, they intend to scale it.”
“How are we positioned to respond? Can we get to their major force before this kicks off?”
The operator shrugged. “I’m not certain how long it’ll take us to get into position. Their location is about ninety degrees around from where we’d planned to strike, so we could flank them easily enough, if time permits.”
“I have our people gathering,” Rex said. “We should be ready to attack in about half an hour. Commander Krueger has the main forces standing up for battle. Even with a good chunk of their forces spread around the settlement, this one force is probably twice our size. If they catch a smaller group of us coming out, they’ll thrash us.”
Harry ground his teeth in frustration. Why hadn’t the bastards given them just a few more hours to get into position?
“Twenty-five minutes,” he said. “Have everybody hustle. We can’t afford to let them take the wall before we attack. We’ve got to sidetrack them so that they don’t get into the settlement.”
“Copy that,” Rex said as he sprinted out of the tent.
Twenty minutes later, Rex was back. “We’ll be ready to go in five. You should be able to guide the attack from here without any trouble. We’ve got a couple of ultralights up already, and as soon as the fighting kicks off, we’ll send some more up with snipers to try to take out enemy leadership.”
“Good,” Harry said. “As soon as you’re ready, kick off the attack. I’ll make sure that the main force is ready in case you run into trouble. Turn their attention to us so that we can kill them.”
The other man nodded and grinned ferociously. “You got it, Boss. Let’s go kick some ass.”
They’d woken Jess hours before her scheduled flight time and ordered her off to scout the enemy surrounding the Volunteer settlement. The way the camp was moving around like a disturbed anthill, something was wrong. The enemy must be moving sooner than they’d expected.
The scout commander was giving her and sev
eral others a hurried briefing before he sent them into the air. “As you’ve probably surmised, the enemy is attacking the city. It looks like they intend to scale the wall. Mister Rogers is going to flank them shortly.
“Your job is to give him the intelligence he needs, the kind of thing he can’t get from the drones. Pilots, stay high and get a good idea of what’s going on on the ground. Snipers, once the attack begins, I want you to take down anyone directing enemy forces. You’ll operate at your own discretion and shoot as need be. Any questions?”
There were none, so she and Sandra went to their ultralight, started it up, and were quickly airborne.
Once Jess was flying over the dark forest, she felt like everything was becoming a bit too real. She felt like she was in a war movie. The terror of getting into a fight was finally settling over her. Panic from the firefight where she’d almost died flooded her.
“Breathe,” Sandra said. “We’ll be in the air and they aren’t going to be shooting back at us effectively. The real danger is going to be on the ground. Just focus on the task at hand, and everything is going to be fine.”
“I don’t see how you can be so sure,” Jess said, hearing the quiver in her voice. “If they take Harry and the ground forces out, we’re not going to be landing anywhere because they’ll have overrun our camp. We’ve got enough fuel to fly around for a little bit, but landing in the dark with just night-vision goggles is not something I ever want to try.”
Sandra patted her on the shoulder as she inspected her sniper rifle. “Focus on the positive. Harry’s a smart commander, and he’ll use our forces effectively. They’ll never know what hit them.
“In any case, he’s not going to be leading from the front. He’ll send Rex to lead the troops on the ground and guide everything from the command tent. He won’t get into the thick of the fighting unless things go seriously wrong.”
