by Warren Ray
He began cursing himself and pleading to Allah to help him in this desperate hour. This was a devastating setback, but he needed to keep moving. His advance team should be well on their way to taking out the enemy guard posts. Those infidels who just attacked would warn the town of an imminent attack.
He needed to hurry.
His radio came alive from the first two buses reporting they had lost half their men during the attack. They were either dead or wounded. Khan ordered them to keep going. He put his radio away, yelled for one of his captains, and commanded what remained of the convoy to get moving. There was not a minute to lose. He instructed his medics to stay behind do what they could before proceeding to Jackson.
He hopped on the next bus and looked at his men. He swept his arm around. “Those cowardly infidels will soon pay the price for attacking us. We will release our vengeance on them, and it will be a glorious battle for Allah.”
The men shouted back and cheered as the bus began to pull away. Khan looked through the window as he passed by more mangled bodies. He didn’t have a count of the dead or wounded but figured at least a hundred were not going to join them. It was a severe blow but not enough to stay the attack. He kept standing for the remainder of their journey wanting to show his men strength.
It took only fifteen minutes before they got to Manchester Road. Once they arrived, Mordulfah’s men on the interstate piled into vehicles and started to line up behind them readying for the quick strike.
Khan reached for his radio and called to his advanced team.
“Achmed, have you completed your mission?”
“Yes, Colonel, we have taken out the two guard posts with ease. We are now proceeding to the hospital. We’ll be in position in about ten minutes.”
“Have they been alerted?”
“No sir, they have not.”
Khan nodded while glancing up to thank Allah for the help. They still had the element of surprise. He pressed the button again. “Wait for my command.”
“Yes, sir.”
Khan climbed on top of the bus to get a better view of his men. With his chest out and shoulders back in perfect posture, he looked taller than his five-foot-eight frame. The sun was just above the horizon, and he put his hand to his forehead to shade his eyes. His men stared up at him as he turned around to inspect them. He nodded and allowed himself a slight grin. Things were looking better. Close to a hundred vehicles full of men, were now parked on Manchester Road ready to go.
He climbed down and ordered the driver to proceed.
The buses pulled out and the long convoy of vehicles fell in behind them. It was fifteen miles to the hospital, which would take approximately twenty minutes. The men on the bus readied their AK-47’s.
Khan and his men hadn’t seen a battle in three months since taking over a small territory in Afghanistan. It had taken several weeks to defeat that enemy and it had cost him dearly. He’d lost close a hundred men, but the victory was worth it as it was a strategic piece of land.
He left the Middle East at the behest of his longtime benefactor Prince Faisal whom he had known since childhood. Khan’s father served in the kingdom as a leading general and was often invited to gatherings where he would bring his sons.
Khan studied with Faisal in Great Britain before joining the military. He had never visited America but had longed to come and help with the take over of the country. He had heard about the plans to bring down America a year before implementation and offered his services to Prince Faisal.
It was a month ago Faisal had flown him and his men to America. Faisal had been waiting patiently for Mordulfah to finally come and seek his help. The man had lost five hundred men in Minnesota a couple of months ago and knew the time he would need help was fast approaching. Mordulfah may be a sharp businessman, but he was no general.
The buses made the final turn and Khan looked at all the abandoned buildings as they came down East Michigan Avenue. His heart skipped a beat when he saw the hospital on the right. He grabbed his radio and ordered his advance strike team to move in through the emergency room. He tapped the driver on the shoulder to take the next right. This would lead them to a parking lot.
As they passed the hospital, Khan saw his advance strike team storm through the emergency room. The battle had begun, and he praised Allah.
Chapter 50
Jackson Michigan
Sandy the nurse who had taken care of Reese had just gotten to the hospital and carried a thermos from home filled with her own private stash of coffee. It had become a commodity around town, and she needed it to get through her day of seeing patients.
However, as of late, she saw less, and less of them as the town’s population dwindled. She reached the nursing station in the emergency room and saw an older couple waiting to be seen by Doctor Lunsford who hadn’t arrived yet. She smiled at the couple and told them it wouldn’t be too long.
She sat down, took the cap off the thermos and poured a cup. She took a sip and looked up to see ten gun-toting men burst through the doors. She didn’t recognize them but realized she was in danger and froze from fear.
Khan’s advanced team shot her before turning on the elderly couple, as they embraced each other before the bullets ripped through them.
* * * * *
Scar sat with Meeks in the cafeteria drinking coffee. He hadn’t gotten much sleep and had seen Bassett and Burns off earlier. He had decided to go back out to the borders to see what he could do to tighten up their perimeter. Meeks had offered to go out with him and told him Amber wanted to join them as well. They had been waiting for her for about ten minutes when she came through the doors ready to go.
“Was about to give up on you,” smiled Meeks.
“Were you really?” said Amber grabbing a cup of coffee.
“Yep. Thought maybe you were going to sleep in.”
Amber sat down across from him. “Are you saying I need more beauty sleep?”
“Oh no. Perish the thought, my dear. Why, much more of that and I won’t be able to control myself around ya.”
Amber shook her head before taking a sip coffee.
“Nice one, buddy,” laughed Scar.
“Well, I mean, look at her.”
“Okay, down boy,” said Amber.
They stopped talking as gunfire echoed through the upstairs.
They stared at each other in disbelief for a split second before jumping out of their seats. They swung their Colt M4’s chest level and charged toward the stairs. Meeks was the first to hit the steps followed by Amber.
Scar keyed his radio and yelled, “We’re under attack. I repeat the hospital is under attack.”
Meeks hit the top of the stairs first and rushed toward the emergency room. He saw Jijis marching down the hall toward them. He pointed his weapon and laid down a hail of bullets.
The wide empty hallway reverberated into an earsplitting tone of gunfire. Two bad guys fell backward from the rounds punching through them. The enemy returned fire as Meeks led the team around the corner to another hallway.
“Eddie do you read me?” yelled Scar into the radio.
“I read you Scar. They just started attacking up here.”
Scar lowered the radio. He had been right that something was off with the borders. They were going to attack all at once. Somehow, they got past their border guards and came in unseen.
He raised his radio again. “I say again, we’re under attack. The whole town is under attack. You know what to do, now do your duty.”
A chorus of “Roger that's” began flooding the radio as men began springing into action.
Winters with the help of Nordell and Bassett had laid out a solid plan on where they should maintain defensive positions and had assigned one to all the personnel. It wasn’t helping that a large portion of the men was still upstairs sleeping. With the exchange of gunfire, that problem would remedy itself.
Meeks came around the corner and fired again to stop them from advancing. He turned to Scar. �
�What’s our play, boss?”
“This is a small contingent. The bigger one will be in the parking lot. C’mon.”
Scar ran down the hall with Amber on his tail. Meeks fired off a three-shot burst before falling in behind them. They reached the side door to the lot and saw buses coming in.
“Let’s go before they can get off,” ordered Scar. “Meeks keep our six clear.”
Meeks nodded and stayed at the door while Scar and Amber headed outside.
Scar and Amber split up and aimed at different buses.
Both emptied their magazines within seconds. The rounds hit the bus forcing it to keep driving to get away from the gunfire.
Scar ran further into the parking lot to see vehicle after vehicle trying to enter. He made a quick decision and yelled for Amber to join him. They had to strike before these bastards got organized.
Amber ran to him, and they started firing at the street that was gridlocked with vehicles. So far, the Jijis hadn’t been able to return fire. That didn’t last long as they began emptying their rides and firing wildly at Scar’s position.
“We don’t want to get trapped here,” yelled Amber.
Scar surveyed the situation. She was right. They needed to get back to Meeks.
As he turned, he saw the convoy of vehicles go around the jammed up intersection and turn on Waterloo Street. This road gave them access to the rest of the parking lots out back. This was where he’d strike next.
Meeks opened the door as Scar and Amber dove through, taking cover as lead began pelting the entrance.
“We need to get over to the other lot,” said Scar.
By now, more Jijis had entered the emergency room, and the sound of non-stop gunfire bounced off the walls. More and more M4’s were joining in the cacophony of battle sounds as the Shadow Patriots began to fight back.
Meeks led them down the hall and over to the exit where they parked most of their vehicles. It was a big lot capable of handling all the vehicles that were pouring in. Scar stopped at the entrance to answer a radio call. Meeks pushed the door open and ran down the sidewalk keeping to the back of an out building with Amber behind him. He came around the corner and saw a Jiji pointing a grenade launcher. Meeks turned and jumped onto Amber taking her to the ground as the grenade flew over their heads.
Chapter 51
Landing hard on Amber, Meeks stayed on top of her as the explosion shook the ground. The thunderous blast blew out the rear entrance to the main building three hundred feet away. Meeks thanked God he decided to take the side entrance. An outcropping from the building kept most of the concussion away from them but still, the blast dazed them.
He pushed up on his hands and looked down at Amber. Her eyes were blinking fast, and she started mouthing something to him. Their ears were ringing from the blast, and neither could hear the other.
Scar came running toward them and was yelling at them. He took a quick look at them and then zipped around the corner to fire on the approaching Jijis killing the one who launched the grenade. He turned back and yelled again.
Meeks rolled off Amber and sat up. The ringing in his ear started to subside, and he turned to Amber who stopped blinking rapidly. She hit her head with the palm of her hand a few times trying to regain her senses.
Meeks got off the ground and held his hand out to her. He pulled her up, but hesitated to let go as she fought to regain her balance.
Scar continued to fire at the approaching Jijis. He wanted that grenade launcher. It was what he needed to be able to kill more Jijis, who were growing in numbers.
He turned his head. “You two okay?”
Meeks joined him and started firing. “Damn blast knocked out my hearing a bit.”
Scar motioned to the dead Jiji still holding the launcher. “I want that launcher.”
“I can see why. If these guys got more of those,” said Meeks.
“Exactly,” finished Scar.
Amber came up beside them. Scar turned to her. “You okay?”
“Yeah. I’m, I’m, good. What the hell was that?”
“Grenade,” said Scar. “And it’s laying right there.”
Amber sensed what Scar wanted to do. It was about seventy-feet away. A little bit more than running to first base. “Give me another second, and I’ll get it.”
“You sure?” asked Scar.
“I’m the fastest here.”
She grabbed her canteen and took a sip of water before splashing some on her face. The water cooled her down and flushed away the remaining haziness. She offered it to Meeks who grabbed it. He took a big gulp and handed it back. He gave her a firm nod. Today there was no such thing as cooties.
“Okay. You guys ready?” asked Amber as she dropped her backpack to the ground.
“He probably has it on a strap, so be ready to cut it away,” said Scar.
Amber nodded and patted the knife on her belt. After the other night, she now carried two knives, one in her boot, the other on her waist. She checked the magazine on her weapon; satisfied it was almost full, she said, “I’m ready.”
Scar and Meeks turned the corner and started laying down a barrage at the Jijis. They quickly scattered, trying to take cover behind cars.
“Go,” ordered Scar.
Amber took off in a full sprint and cleared the seventy-feet right at three seconds. She fell to her knees keeping low to the ground. Scar had been right. It was strapped to him.
She rolled the bloody corpse over and noted his glassy eyes staring at her. She pulled her knife out and cut the nylon strap making quick work of it.
A bullet whizzed over her head and made her flinch as she pulled on the launcher. She hated that sound because it meant she had barely survived another close call. Too many times over the past couple of weeks, she had heard the eerie noise.
She looked around and saw a Jiji had snuck around the corner of a car off to her side. He was moving up to get a better angle on her position. She lifted her weapon and fired as he peeked around the corner.
He moved back to take cover.
She didn’t have much time before he’d try again, so she yanked the launcher free and was about leave when she remembered it needed ammo. A black nylon bag was strapped around his waist. She opened it up and saw it was loaded with grenades.
Movement over by the car caught her attention again, so she kicked her legs out into a prone position. She rested her M4 on the corpse using it as cover and carefully aimed at a pair of boots sticking out from the front tire.
She took a breath and let it out before gently squeezing the trigger. The loud snap of the gun was followed by the man rolling over to grab his bloody foot.
Big mistake.
Amber kept her aim and fired again. The bullets ripped into his thigh rolling him over exposing his head. The next volley exploded the head blowing one side of it away.
She then grabbed her knife again and cut through the belt. She scooted up on her knees and looked over to Scar and Meeks.
Meeks waved at her to come over, and she raced back to them.
Scar let out a sigh of relief. He adored and respected Amber as a valuable member of their team. She and Reese had proven themselves many times over. However, what she had just done was beyond risky, and he would have hated himself forever if she had been killed.
He grabbed the handheld grenade launcher. “This baby is an M three-twenty single fire launcher.”
“Ever used one?” asked Meeks.
“Nah, but similar ones. They all fire about the same.”
Scar looked in the bag and was pleased to find ten grenades.
“Got a lot of vehicles coming in,” said Meeks flickering his eyebrows at Scar.
“Then let’s welcome them,” said Scar as he loaded a grenade into the launcher. He turned the corner and saw a string of cars at the entrance. He hadn’t fired one of these in quite a while, but it wasn’t something you forgot. He took aim and pulled the trigger. The launcher thumped as the grenade took off in an arc through th
e air. Scar scooted back around the building and waited.
It took a couple of seconds to sail right into a Suburban and detonate in a blinding explosion. Glass and bodies erupted through the air as black smoke rose in all directions.
They looked around the corner at the chaos. Jijis, dazed by the impact, were running away. Some were in full panic mode, but others were not. Those were the seasoned fighters, and they motioned for the approaching vehicles to keep driving up the street.
“Those guys are good,” said Scar. “Look at ‘em keeping order.”
“Hit ‘em again,” said Meeks.
Scar threw in another and aimed at them. The grenade launched toward the bunched up fighters and hit a smaller SUV right at the entrance of the parking lot throwing another fireball into the air killing a few of those soldiers.
Amber stayed behind Scar and Meeks as they came around the corner to inspect the damage. She looked back over to where she retrieved the launcher and saw two men further back in an adjoining parking lot. He had something on his shoulder, and she realized what it was just before he fired. An RPG was headed their way.
Chapter 52
Reese woke up thinking she had just heard gunfire. As she slowly shook off the fog of her deep sleep, she wondered if she dreamt it. It wouldn’t be the first time she heard gunfire in her dreams. It was the downside of being around it all the time. You sometimes had flashbacks of past gun battles or dreamt of future ones. So, sleep became a challenge for her with some nights being good and others, not so much.
Last night she had gotten to bed later than she would have liked having played cards with Nate and Elliott. It had been a fun night because she actually won a few hands of poker. Both of them were quite good at it with Nate coming out on top.
More gunfire rang out.
The hairs on her arms stood straight up as if an electrical charge shot through her body. She threw the sheet off the bed and grabbed her jeans. The gunfire multiplied and became louder as she pulled her pants on.