“Half an ounce buys, what, five thousand rounds and a half dozen quality rifles now? You get more than that here? Maybe I’ll stick around and get rich.”
“Didn’t say it wasn’t interesting. Just that it ain’t a great offer.”
“Mostly riding, so you’re being paid to get a tan.”
“One way to look at it, I suppose,” Eddy conceded. “Where we going?”
“Colorado ways.”
“What’s up there?”
“Somebody needs killing.”
“There a bonus for the man who tags him?”
Snake liked the question. “Sure. Another ounce.”
“You got it on you?”
Snake snorted and took a sip from his glass. “I look like an idiot?”
“How do we know you aren’t full of it?”
Snake leaned forward and his eyes bored into Eddy’s. “You want a job or wanna play twenty questions?”
Eddy didn’t look away immediately. When he did, he drummed his fingers absently against his leg. “Gotta ask my bro what he thinks.”
“No negotiation. That’s what the job pays.”
“How many men you looking for?”
“Just a few of the right ones.”
“Be right back.”
“See if you can bring some crank for the ride. I’ll pay the going rate.”
“You got it.”
Three minutes later Eddy and his brother Clint were accompanying Snake outside, where a scavenger was watching their horses for whatever he could get. Snake tossed the man a round and climbed into the saddle, and the siblings followed suit and followed Snake down the darkened street, in search of one of Eddy’s contacts to load up on meth before riding out of town, the deal cinched and the down-on-their-luck brothers without a better deal in the offing. Everything the pair owned was on their backs, so the drugs were the only stop they had to make before hitting the trail.
Snake smiled to himself at how easy that had been. He still had the commanding presence, he figured, and they’d sensed the leadership in him and responded unconsciously. He’d have to keep his eye on them, of course, and might have to kill both if they tried anything, but it told him that he could raise a small army if he had to, which was reassuring given his mission.
As for the drugs, he could justify them because he was riding all night and needed chemical fortification to keep alert. He’d be careful about how much he smoked each day, though, because there was no guarantee that once they were out of former Crew territory they’d find anything more than tumbleweeds and scrub. The thought of the substance hitting his lungs like an atomic blast and sending a freezing surge through his entire body until his brain felt like it was going to explode made him smile in the dark, and he turned away from the pair so they wouldn’t think he was nuts.
They’d learn he was dead serious on the road north, but for now he needed them to be compliant and willing, and if he had to share some of his stash to achieve his ends, so be it.
“Up on the right. I’ll be out in a minute. Give me the rounds,” Eddy said, and Snake nodded.
“Hope you’re on the up and up, because otherwise your brother’s history,” Snake said, his eyes hard.
Eddy swallowed, swung down from his horse, and held out a gloved hand, his gaze landing on Snake’s pistol for only a moment before returning to the former warlord’s face, his expression showing that he understood the threat and wasn’t going to risk his brother’s life.
“I got it. We’re on your clock now. Don’t sweat it.”
“If you say so,” Snake said, tossing a pair of full magazines to him. “Only the rounds. Need the mags back.”
“Will do,” Eddy said, and then he was gone, vanishing into the shadows like a phantom, the only trace of his passing the sound of his boots ascending the building stoop and the faint tang of sour sweat on the hot breeze.
Chapter 32
Salem, Oregon
Lucas crouched at the window of an abandoned two-story home in the urban sprawl of the outlying Salem metro area, watching the activity in town through his binoculars. It had taken his group two days to travel there from the ambush point, and they’d turned off the highway ten miles short so they wouldn’t be spotted by any enemy outposts. After reaching the farthest suburb, they’d doglegged to the east in order to approach from that direction. He’d been eyeing the city for the better part of three hours, since dawn, but the only activity he’d seen had been Blood Dogs – it was as though the entire local population had been eliminated, which he prayed wasn’t the case.
Henry had accompanied him into the suburb, and they’d spent dawn looking for a decent vantage point where they could survey the enemy from a safe distance. They’d bet that the gang had followed the lead of the locals and avoided the rotting outer neighborhoods, preferring the city center where they could consolidate and which they could more easily defend.
Henry twisted toward Lucas from his window. “What do you think?”
“We don’t have a lot of time before they smell a rat, so we’re going to have to hit them tonight. Looks like they’re sticking to downtown, so it should be a straightforward replay of Seattle.” Lucas paused. “Only question is how close we can get before they’re alerted.”
“We going to soften them up with shelling?”
Lucas adjusted his hat and lowered the glasses. “Hate to hurt anyone they’re holding prisoner, but I don’t see a lot of ways around it. We’ll want to knock out as much of their power center as we can before we start the building-by-building sweep.”
“We could forego the mortars and stick to grenade launchers. Line of sight.”
Lucas nodded. “But we’ll incur heavier casualties. No, I think what we need to do is get closer and try to figure out where they bunk, and attack while they’re sleeping. The fewer that survive that first attack, the fewer that can inflict damage on us.”
“I have family here. Not close, but a cousin.”
“That’s rough. I know a lot of the men do. But if these animals work anything like the Crew, they either butchered or enslaved everyone they found. It’s going to be next to impossible to differentiate our people from theirs in a fight, so we’ll have to concentrate on minimizing the fighting to areas we know have to be gang members.”
“So what do you want to do?”
“I haven’t spotted a lot of guards. Let’s work our way closer and see what we can learn.”
Lucas led the way on foot, and they covered the ground fast, the surroundings devoid of life. Lucas remembered the last time Salem had been overtaken by enemies, and recalled the bikers like it was yesterday. He also recalled the layout as he neared the Central Area, passing several large shopping centers now in disarray, and gave a wide berth to the rust-colored state hospital, where he’d seen at least two dozen gang members from his earlier perch.
Lucas made for the gates of the penitentiary, which was a little over a mile from the state capitol building and had the benefit of being a fortress, complete with high towers from which he could scan the town. Henry followed close behind, and they crept through the open gates, long abandoned by some of the worst offenders Oregon had to offer, and headed for the nearest watchtower. Lucas paused at the base of a tall steel ladder, where two skeletons in guard uniforms lay where they’d been killed, their skulls staved in by blunt force. Henry shook his head.
“Kind of creepy to think about it, even this long after,” he said.
“Yeah. Poor bastards. Just doing their jobs, right up to the bitter end.”
They climbed the rungs and settled in, Henry watching the hospital, Lucas the city, and spent most of the afternoon noting the gang’s movements. Unlike the Crew, there were few patrols that could be identified as such, more groups of men wandering the streets with guns like members of a lynch mob. The sight gave Lucas optimism – the Blood Dogs had little discipline he could see, which would translate into an easier time retaking the town. In a late night firefight, gunmen with no discipli
ne or training would panic or make stupid errors. Lucas’s more seasoned troops wouldn’t, and he had the additional edge of hundreds of his best being Salem natives, who were intimately familiar with the city’s layout.
“What do you think?” Henry asked as the sun sank behind the foothills across the river.
“Looks like they’re using the capitol building as headquarters, which is a natural and helps us. I still remember it from the bikers. So will many of the others. And it looks like they’re using the hospital and some of the official buildings by the capitol building as their bunkhouses, which makes sense – why spread themselves thin? Easier to defend. Although it doesn’t look like they’ve made any preparations for an attack.”
“How do we do this?”
“We bracket them from the public utility building north of the capitol and from the residential area east of the hospital and capitol. Shell them to soften them up, and then go in for the kill and do it the hard way – street by street. The good news is we’ve got more men than they do, and with a lot of us using NV gear, they’re going to be in serious trouble in no time.”
“When do we move into position?”
“Same as the valley. Only we’ll want to start this attack at least a couple of hours before dawn, so we can use our NV scopes for close-in combat, too.”
Once it was dark, they descended from the tower and jogged the two miles to where the troops were waiting on the edge of Hayesville, and Lucas gave Art and his lieutenants a full briefing. Sam was visibly upset at his report and, when Lucas was done, stood to confront him.
“You didn’t see any of the townspeople?” he asked.
Lucas shook his head. “I’m afraid not. Wherever they’re keeping them, it’s not near downtown.”
“Shouldn’t finding them be a priority? What if the gang decides to kill them or use them as human shields?”
“We don’t have time to do a thorough reconnaissance, Sam. That could take a week, and we both know it. Our advantage is the same as a few days ago: surprise. I’d suggest we do what worked and limit our risk.”
“Those aren’t your friends and family you’re talking about.”
“Wrong. Ruby, one of my only friends in the world, is in Salem.” He hesitated. “So I’ve got plenty of skin in the game, too.”
“But what you’re proposing doesn’t do anything to protect them.”
“It protects us. That’s the priority. If we win the battle, then we can help whoever survived. If we lose…”
Art stood. “Look. I know this is going to be tough for some of you, and I understand why. Some of us aren’t going to make it to tomorrow. But we have to think with our brains and maintain a coherent strategy. I can’t afford a bunch of you running off to try to find your kin. Sorry. We’ve got to be soldiers first and civilians second, or we’re no better than the gang, and there’s no guarantee we’ll win. Our discipline and the element of surprise is our edge. They’re well equipped. We know that. But just like in the valley, if we do this right, they don’t stand a chance. Do it wrong, and this may be our last stand. At the very least we could suffer impossibly high casualties. So our tactics have to emphasize minimizing our risk and moving like lightning, not trying to find loved ones.”
Sam sat back down, his expression clearly unhappy; but Art’s words were unassailable in their logic. He’d been through enough battles to know the General was speaking the truth, even if he didn’t like it. Art looked out over the group for a moment and then began describing how he wanted the men distributed.
“We’ll lead with the mortars and grenade crews, just like we did in the valley. I want all gunners to be equipped with NV gear. Two groups, flanking the capitol, just like Lucas said. The main body of troops we’ll hold back until we can send in a first wave. Those men will also have NV goggles. Once it’s sunup, we’ll send in the rest and go house to house until we’ve wiped them out.” Art paused. “Make no mistake, this is not about taking prisoners. These men came to kill us. It’s us or them. We’re not in the mercy business with murderous scum, and that’s what this gang is. You’re to wipe them from the face of the earth, and sleep well after.”
He continued, next issuing instructions on where to station the medics and field hospital, working from a half-rotted map of the city they’d come across at one of the abandoned truck stops on the way south. When he finished, he fixed the men with a steel gaze.
“Get some shut-eye. We’ll move in five hours. Shouldn’t take over an hour to get everyone in position once we’re close to the capitol. Thank you, gentlemen, and good luck to us all.”
“Not that we’re going to need it,” Lucas said. A flutter of nervous laughter greeted his comment.
When the men had departed, Art sat on the edge of one of the equipment carts. “Think Sam will pull his load?”
“He’s a good man. I think so.”
“I don’t know. Even if he does, you have to know that a lot of his group won’t want to maintain ranks if they think their families are in danger.”
“We both know that there’s only a slim chance they’re alive.”
“I’ve watched men march into hellfire on slimmer odds than that. People are strange.”
“It’ll be a good test. Not that we need any more of those.” Lucas yawned. “It’s going to be a long one. I’ll be up in four hours. You should get some sleep too.”
“I can sleep when I’m dead.”
Chapter 33
Salem, Oregon
Lucas, Terry, and Henry worked their way west with their NV goggles on, twenty-five men hoisting 60 mm mortars with them and another fifty toting ammo crates loaded with rounds, three Browning gunner crews, and a hundred fighters armed with assault rifles. The moon was barely visible through a high overcast, and the ambient light from the stars was blocked by the clouds.
The group moved carefully to avoid drawing attention to themselves, sticking to back streets as Lucas led the way. When they could see the hospital and capitol building clearly, Lucas signaled for the group to halt. They looked around until they found a promising collection of buildings to establish themselves in – an elementary school that according to the map was a third of a mile from the hospital and a hundred yards farther to the capitol building.
One of the gunmen threw a grappling hook with a knotted rope onto the roof and quickly scaled the wall, and then the rest were doing the same with their hooks and lines, mortars strapped to their backs. After all but the Browning crews and the loaders with the ammo cans were up top, they tied the ends of the ropes to the cans and weapons, and the men above heaved them onto the roof.
Lucas surveyed the hospital grounds with his M4 NV scope and then slowly swept the tallest building’s roof. He motioned to Henry and Terry, and they joined him at the lip.
“They’ve got some men on the hospital roof,” he said. “Looks like a machine gun on each corner.”
“I see ’em,” Henry said.
Terry nodded. “Me too.”
“Makes sense. Those are the highest buildings around here. They’re going to pose a problem if they zero in on us, so focus your first shells on that building.”
“I can lob a few thousand .50-cal rounds their way for good measure,” Terry said.
“Muzzle flash might give us away. Let’s see if we can get it done with just the mortars.”
“Too far for the grenade launchers,” Henry said. “Good call on leaving them with Art and the main body.”
“But perfect for mortars,” Lucas said. “Which is why we’re here.” He looked to Terry. “If we start taking incoming fire from those guns, feel free to give them everything you’ve got. Otherwise hold your fire until we have live targets on the grounds. My hunch is once the fireworks start, any surviving enemies will bail out of the buildings, at which point they’re all yours.”
“Like fish in a barrel. Got it,” Terry said.
“All right. I synched watches with Art. We have fifteen minutes before it’s showtime. Everyone keep
your eyes open in case someone spots us. If they do, take them out.”
The fifteen minutes crawled by as the men sat wordlessly staring at the hospital grounds. No lights were on, but in their goggles the building was neon green, with the machine-gun nests glowing hot with heat signals in the infrared. When it was time, Lucas called out softly to the mortar operators.
“Fire at will.”
Explosions at the courthouse and the surrounding government buildings boomed from their right, and then the familiar whump of the mortars firing from the roof began, the loaders dropping in a new round every four or five seconds. They’d already calculated the range from the map and had the bearings, so most of the shells hit their targets, with only a few overshooting or falling short.
The hospital lit up with starbursts of flame, and the closest section of the roof of the building with the machine-gun nests flared as three rounds detonated, destroying two of the nests instantly. Henry adjusted the mortar a hair as his loader continued dropping rounds in, and he directed the fire with the precision of a neurosurgeon. All but the last nest succumbed to the barrage, and then the enemy gunner opened up, and the roof around Lucas shredded from the high-velocity slugs tearing into it.
“Terry!” Lucas called, throwing himself down and lying flat.
Terry returned fire, and the other pair of Brownings followed suit. A thousand jacketed rounds peppered the corner of the building that wasn’t engulfed in flames, and the nest vaporized before their eyes, cut to pieces by the relentless fire.
“Hold your fire!” Lucas yelled, and the gunners stopped shooting while the mortars went back to work. Once the multistory buildings in the hospital complex were largely destroyed, Lucas ran to Henry and pointed at the hospital entrance. “They’re making a break for it!”
Hundreds of men were scurrying from the buildings like ants, and Terry leveled his weapon at them and began firing methodical bursts, twenty rounds each, cutting the gang members apart as they ran from a threat they couldn’t see. The other gunners did the same, and soon the grounds were littered with dead as more mortar rounds exploded by the entrance.
The Day After Never - Legion (Post-Apocalyptic Dystopian Thriller - Book 8) Page 17