In the weeks they had been observing, the men had stealthily circumnavigated the downtown area, witnessed all manner of movement, and documented each of Tim’s defenses. Included in their sitrep were the best and worst possible ingress and egress points as well. For almost an hour, the FO’s presented their observations and answered questions from their CO’s. Most of the intel had already been relayed during their communication sessions.
Katherine and the others listened intently. As new details emerged, they’d review their own map looking for incompatibilities in the initial planning. As the meeting was breaking up and darkness began to fall, Josh’s youngest daughter requested a moment alone with the General.
Before the two were able to separate, the FOs approached. “Ma’am, may we have a word?” one of the men asked.
“Certainly,” she replied. “What’s on your mind?”
With a former four-star at her side the pair stood resolute and swallowed their pride. “I don’t know if this is a standing army or a militia or what, but it is clear to us that you know what you’re doing.”
“Oh, I wouldn’t go that far. I’ve been receiving a great deal of counsel lately,” she replied casually and nodded toward Brent to try and put them at ease.
The man half smiled.
“Yes ma’am, but I –,” he began before Katherine cut him off.
“All is forgiven. You’re won’t refer to me in derogatory terms and I’m not going to threaten to stomp you into oblivion. Deal?”
The two men looked up surprised and beamed wide smiles.
“Deal!”
“Come here you two,” she stated and hugged them both. As she released them, she added, “Now, I’m very proud of the work you’ve done thus far, but I need the two of you to use those night vision goggles one more time. For the time being though, find some place quiet and get some shut eye. We head out in a few hours.”
“Yes ma’am. Thank you.”
As they departed, Katherine glanced over at Brent who was beside himself.
“What?”
“Hugs instead of an ass ripping? What kind of touchy feely outfit is this?” he said somewhat jokingly.
“You have your command philosophy, I have mine. Besides, they were already punishing themselves pretty good,” she declared as she checked her watch. “Let’s get the Team Leaders on the same page then we’ll get everyone fed and bedded down for a few hours. We’re outta here at 01:00.”
* * *
Sophie and Philip sat and listened as Josh outlined their various defenses. There were several points where the astonishment couldn’t be hidden behind the veneer of their stoic poker faces.
“The only weakness that I saw exposed by your arrival was in this area here,” he stated as he directed their attention to the Chamber of Commerce map of McArthur. “You were able to dismount some of your force and enter Main Street through this alley.” Then he paused while grimacing. “I’m curious though.”
The mother and soon raised their eyebrows in anticipation.
“What made you give that command to your squad?”
“I’ve entered hundreds of small towns, just like this one,” Philip began, “From New Orleans to Cape Girardeau to McArthur. Became the SOP after we were shot at in Sardis, Mississippi.”
Josh nodded knowingly.
“How many OPs do you have?” Sophie interjected. “You didn’t mention those.”
He wheeled around and pulled a different map out of the top drawer of the Sheriff’s desk.
“When you made that right on Route 93 in Logan,” Josh replied as he pointed to map. “You saw what was left of OP2. You passed OP1 a few miles north. That was the one that alerted us to your arrival. Had you stayed on 33, you would have been spotted by OP3. After that, we have one each to the east, west, and south at these locations,” he continued as he directed their attention.
“In addition to those, we have relays set up in the various towns around McArthur. It’s basically a communication ring around us. Doesn’t much matter which way they enter from, we’ll see them. That or we’ll be notified.”
“Can’t they hear your communications?”
Josh sighed at the question.
“Unfortunately, yes. That’s why we’ve been using the radios sparingly. We didn’t grab any comm gear from DSCC when we got our truck of goodies. To make matters worse, all of the available walkies went to Columbus to support that Op. Bryan, Chester, and Scott have been working around the clock to come up with some form of an alternate. We’ve only made it as far as the twenty-first century equivalent of the Pony Express.”
The pair stepped closer to the desk, seemingly in unison, and silently continued their review of the city.
Philip pointed and Sophie nodded, neither spoke.
“Monsieur Simmons, have you thought about disabling their vehicles before they can enter? I see no reason to allow them a free pass into the town square.”
“We talked about trenching something, or installing barricades, or a half-ass tank trap of sorts, but diesel is running low. We need as much as we can salvage for the harvest in a few months. We’ll be lucky if we have enough fuel to get half the spring crop planted. After that though, everyone around here will be farming the old fashioned way.”
“Maybe your ‘tinkerers’ can conjure up some road spikes like we used to see in your movies,” Sophie stated. “They seemed very effective.”
“You mean the Tin Hatters?”
“Oui, your Tin Hatters.”
A devilish grin appeared.
“Merde,” she exclaimed as she caught the smirk.
Josh knew why she said it. He cleared his throat and said, “I don’t know if we’ve shared this piece of information with you, but we captured one of the portable EMP suitcases.”
Now it was Sophie’s turn to smile.
* * *
“Ok, Grappler, Evan… Dallas. The Sappers and snipers left an hour ago. You and your team’s depart in five. James and his squad are dispersing throughout the city to provide overwatch while the engineers prep the buildings for demo. You guys ready to roll out?” Katherine asked sincerely.
“Yes ma’am,” the trio said in unison. Grappler then added, “I just wish we had a map of the storm water system.”
“Me too, but Tim and his band of idiots torched all of the government buildings. Sorry.”
Katherine’s eagerness and nervousness were getting the better of her. She continually asked and re-hashed the numerous questions and scenarios multiple times.
“Everybody is clear on the rally point if this thing goes sideways?”
The men and their assembled teams nodded.
“According to Sheriff Watson, we all need to be south of the crossroads if I call in a barrage in retreat. So if you hear that, move your asses! Stay at least a block north if we’re not, clear?”
Grunts and nods permeated the group.
“Expect a minute to a minute and a half to reload and fire between shells. That means you can move around between shots, but I would keep even that to a minimum. Brent will function as the FO for the Sheriff.
“Now, based on our rough estimates, you and your men will traverse a half ‘click’ up the mainline, hang the nearest right to that distance, go another hundred yards, and you should come out pretty close to the barracks.”
“Yup, that’s the plan.”
“All hell is going to break loose at 05:00 so don’t be out there lollygagging. This Op is all about the timing. The buildings come down in unison. So link up with your Sapper and his demo team as quickly as you can. Dallas, Brent, and I will be coming over the rubble of the AEP building with our teams at 05:05. Start herding everyone south while we send ‘em west. I want as little collateral damage as possible.
“Most of these people are not armed. Many are doing the best they can just to survive with the hand they’ve been dealt. If you’re engaged, then by all means defend yourself. Let the shooters clear a path from distance though. That’s what they
’re there for. We aren’t giving out medals today, gentlemen. So no hero shit, got it?”
The collected group smiled and half chuckled.
“Yes, ma’am, understood,” Grappler replied.
“Okay. Get going,” she said as she started to turn and head to the command vehicle.
“Uh, ma’am?” the squat heavy wrestler said hesitantly.
She turned toward the group of men who were smiling and looking at her expectantly. Katherine glanced around and quickly figured out what was giving them the giggles.
“I only give hugs to those that make it back,” she stated flatly. “Except for Evan and Dallas, they get ‘em anytime,” she concluded with a smile.
“Totally not fair!” the men groaned in response.
“Suckers!” Dallas proclaimed as he went over for his hug.
* * *
With the radios compromised, runners ferried messages and information from the farm and Lake Hope to Josh downtown and back again. In the days since Eustace’s death, he had been quietly planning the defense of McArthur. The horseback riders were a delay to the positioning of his primary force and reserve measures, but it would have to do. Much of what he was placing had already been somewhat concocted as he had an inkling that they’d be defending the town at some point.
On top of that, as much as he hated to admit it, his place was in McArthur. Katherine and Brent heading up the Columbus Op hadn’t been his intention, but holding her back any longer would have been futile. If he had anyone to blame for that, it would be Brent and Dallas.
The pair, not through any direct vote or spoken directive, had taken to assigning her to head up at least one patrol a week for the last several months. She’d gotten her team through some scraps here and there, but she’d figured it out and always brought the entire team home.
As part of Josh’s McArthur defense planning, he had instructed Chester to reassemble the portable EMP suitcase device. It took the man about three hours since he had built a prototype of the weapon some twenty years earlier for the DoD. The leader of the Tin Hatters shook his head in disbelief the entire time.
He had warned them that a device like this was the future and might be our military’s undoing. Unfortunately, his warnings went unheeded. It served as one of many ‘Chicken Little’ predictions and only earned him a one way ticket to the Appalachian Behavioral Healthcare Hospital. Regardless, he was reluctantly ready to deploy at a moment’s notice, per Josh’s request. His protective detail consisted of a recently trained patrol team and a few French Foreign Legion soldiers to fill out the complement.
Carlton and Basilia were stationed downtown, presumably where the fighting was most likely to occur. The matriarch of the Martinez family would handle the makeshift triage center while the former Navy Corpsman would scurry around assisting the fallen where they lay. Or, at least, that was the plan.
The rest of their assembled medical staff would be safely hunkered down and sheltered in the camp with the refugees and the lone remaining patrol team. Katherine had cherry picked the four best, most experienced teams for the taking of Columbus. All that remained were trained well enough, but the two groups had only taken part in a hand full of reconnaissance missions in the area. None had fired their weapon. However, given the success of the welcoming committee that greeted the French upon their arrival, Josh was confident with what he had.
In the pre-dawn hours, Samantha and Sophie reviewed the overnight messages. Once finished, they decided to head toward Mama Reni’s for one of Jacques and Mimi’s one pot breakfasts. As they exited the Sheriff’s office the two hardly spoke. The pair was nervously awaiting word that the assault on Columbus had begun. As a result, their conversations were reduced to small talk about insignificant things like the weather. The awkward conversation was halted when Sam spotted a message carrier entering the town at speed.
“Hold on a sec, Soph. There’s a message inbound,” Samantha declared as she grabbed the woman’s arm.
The women walked to the curb as the messenger slowed his mount. Sophie casually held out her hand to receive the hand written note. The rider slapped it into her palm as he trotted by and went straight toward the repurposed store front that now served as a livery stable to begin swapping out horses. The exchange of beasts for runners wasn’t an uncommon occurrence and was barely noticed by the early risers milling about in downtown McArthur.
The two women opened the note and read:
Good news, all teams are in position. Op on schedule. British forces went south to Parkersburg, WV. Lost all vehicles. Twenty five KIA. Bad news, remaining force strength, condition, and whereabouts unknown. Believed to be on foot and continuing with mission. Intel is three days old.
“Well, this maybe became a much easier defensive situation,” Sam declared after reading the message.
“Britannique puantes ne savent jamais quand abandoner, (Stinking British never know when to give up,)” Sophie spat in French. “Where’s your darling husband? I think his plan might need to be downsized.”
The two women looked at each other; half smiled at one another, and then started laughing at the thought of Josh downsizing anything.
Chapter 26
July 4th, 2023
“… Seven, six, arm the shot, three, two, one, detonate,” Jake, the Senior Sapper, said calmly as he steadily counted down into his comm device.
The teams watched from a thousand yards away as the rumble of the detonations tore through the support structures for each of the buildings. It took a few seconds before the sway turned into a pronounced lean. Then eventually, all four hundred and eighty five feet of the Nationwide Plaza One building groaned as it began crashing down onto the streets below like a wave on the beach.
The sound of the twisting steel and shattering windows was all encompassing as it smacked into streets. The debris wafted effortlessly down on the wind of the destruction while the dust billowed out for blocks. Any exit to the east was now blocked.
The thirty one floors of the former AEP headquarters came down more quickly. It didn’t take long before the structure eventually pancaked a railroad trestle and crumbled to rest on Spring and Long Streets, effectively sealing the southern egress.
No sooner had the plume of dust started to settle, and some degree of visibility restored, as the teams scurried over the debris and began heading toward Huntington Park and TK.
It took a little over a minute for the rumble of the explosions and the vibrations of the destruction to reach the team manning the self-propelled howitzer twelve miles away.
* * *
“Well, there’s no turning back now,” the Sheriff proclaimed. “Alright, guys. Just like we practiced. Dick, you’ve got command along with horizontal traverse and vertical elevation adjustments. I’ll work the auto-loader.”
Then he addressed the others directly. “You three stay in the deuce out of the way until I need to reload. As soon as the mechanism picks it up, you guys begin moving the next shell into place. Questions?”
Juan, Abelardo, and Holland looked at each other and the two men manning the M110A2. They shook their heads ‘no’.
“Watch for my hand signals,” Dick added. “You’ll want to cover your ears. This thing’s gonna make a hell of a racket when it goes off. Jesus is covering from above, should anyone come calling. So just focus on your job.”
Abelardo gave an impromptu thumbs up sign.
“Okay, let’s fire this thing up and get ‘er loaded,” Jim proclaimed as he took his station at the levers. “With any luck, the gun laying calcs will put this first one pretty close to the target.”
* * *
Katherine had never been so thankful for Jake’s advice regarding the demo. The issuing of standing respirators (dust masks) and goggles were proving to be absolute life savers as they climbed over and through the rubble and windblown debris. The thought actually went through her head as she worked her way over, if she had to do it over again, that she’d have positioned the teams on the other s
ide of the obstacle before they were felled. As it stood, only Grappler’s team was being spared the arduous climb. Unfortunately, cover beyond the towers was sparse. After Eustace’s death however, she was not in a gambling mood.
No sooner did Grappler see the first of the Sappers clear the rubble as he gave the hand signal to enter the barracks.
“Slow and steady people,” he whispered to each of the paired teams as they went past him in to the void.
The structure was only two stories, but it was long. The original occupant had been an assembly line buggy works at the dawn of the twentieth century. In theory, it was a giant warehouse with few walls. However, the redevelopment effort in downtown Columbus one hundred years later meant that much of the interior had been redesigned and repurposed. A central corridor ran down the middle with eight studio apartments on each side, sixteen per floor. Every one of them would need to be searched. Any inhabitants were to be flushed from their digs and corralled toward the exit.
Jake and his team approached as the last of Grappler’s men entered the building.
“I’ve got my guys upstairs, plus another four outside waiting for jumpers. We are corralling them north,” Grappler declared. “You guys have the downstairs. Send two pairs of yours to link up with mine at the other end. My teams are playing leap frog the length of the corridor going room by room. The field is due west of our position.”
“Roger that,” Jake replied then turned toward his team. “You four,” he declared as he pointed. “Outside on riot duty; move to the north end of the structure and herd the mob west to the open field.” As they dispersed, he motioned for the other men to draw closer. “The rest of you, on me in pairs.” As they approached to hear their squad leader, the Sapper gave his directions, “We’ve got the first floor. Sweep and clear each room and get these people headed toward the exit at the far end. Move out.”
By the Dawn's Early Light Page 31