by Ricky Sides
Smiling to herself, Namid thought that since she couldn’t find the cave entrance she would stop looking for it and start looking for an open stretch of grass with a pond to the left and a popular tree to the right. Fifteen minutes later on her fifth search pattern of the same area, she located the site. She immediately saw the same attempts at camouflage that they had encountered at the last cave site. She radioed the Peacekeeper that she had located the nest and gave the Peacekeeper the coordinates.
“Roger that, Phoenix. Congratulations on finding the site. Pete requests you to do a spiral search from that position and try to locate any other possible exits. He wants me to remind you that both of the other nests had two entrances and that they had actually gone to the trouble of digging one for the last site,” Patricia said.
“I’m on it, but if it is as well hidden as this entrance then we may never find the other entrance,” Namid stated.
“Pete says in that case we will have to put the fighters in the sky over the nest, and hope they spot any cult members escaping from another exit,” Patricia explained. Then she said, “Tim says to record the positions of any structures such as houses and barns. He says that sometimes people design tunnels to come out inside a structure so that the entrance is impossible to detect from the air.”
“Will do, Lieutenant,” Namid said remembering an old barn she’d seen during the course of her search patterns. She was sure that she’d seen a small trail associated with that barn as well. Smiling to herself Namid vectored her fighter in the direction of the old barn. Soon she arrived at the barn and picked up the trail she had remembered. The trail led to thick woods located to the east. There was no way that she could follow the trail through the woods, but she noted that the stand of forest was relatively thin.
Working on a hunch, Namid flew over the forest to the other side. She didn’t see the trail at first because she had expected it to be directly across from the place where it had entered the forest. Spinning her fighter on its axis, she spotted the trail and smiled again. The trail she was seeking had followed the length of the thin stand of woods, and emerged near a dirt road, which ran east beside another stand of trees. The trail left the woods and cut diagonally across the field toward that dirt road. Sitting beside that dirt road as closely as possible to the trees were several vans and a church bus. The overhanging canopy would make it difficult to spot the vehicles from the air unless you approached from the correct angle.
Namid carefully noted that no one was present. Climbing to her full altitude, she could clearly see where several vehicles had turned around in that corner in the recent past. “Peacekeeper, I am sending you some intelligence feed in a moment,” Namid radioed.
“Roger, Phoenix. I am now set to record on this end,” Patricia replied.
It took Namid less than a minute to return to the barn. She activated the video feed and at full altitude, she focused the camera first on the barn, and then on the trail that Lieutenant Wilcox had taught her to look for during their search for the first nest site. She drifted her fighter slowly along the trail and crossed the woods. She turned her fighter on the right vector to intercept the trail and focused on the trail in the position where it left the woods and crossed the corner of the field, stopping at the collection of assembled vehicles.
“The council says you have done an outstanding job. They want to know if you can lead some of the base one fighters back to that location even in the dark if need be?” Patricia asked.
“With my eyes closed,” Namid said grinning.
Namid heard laughter in the background and then Tim asked, “Have you been flying with your eyes closed lately? Well, that might explain some of your erratic flight patterns of late.”
Namid laughed good-naturedly into her microphone and said, “That’s because you’ve been asking me to find a needle in a haystack and it’s a big haystack.”
Turning serious, Namid asked, “Should I disable the vehicles?”
“Not at this time,” Tim said speaking for the council.
“But, sir they may use them to escape,” Namid pointed out.
“And it is possible that they have guards in the barn, Namid. If they do, and the guards hear you firing, and report that to the cult, any prisoners could be killed immediately. We aren’t prepared to take that risk. We will try to approach undetected. We’ll land, and our strike team will pull the coil wires from the vehicles. Once they are disabled, the strike team will enter from that location.”
“My orders, sir?” Namid inquired.
“Return to our current location. The Constitution, the Alabama and sixteen fighters will be here in less than twenty minutes. You will brief their pilots as to the locations and available landing zones for the ships to drop personnel for their targets and then you will lead six fighters and our drones back to the two entrances to the cave nest,” Tim explained.
“Understood, sir,” Namid responded and flew back to the site, which the Peacekeeper had just vacated.
Chapter 10
The Constitution landed in the spot where the Peacekeeper had been landing for days. The Alabama landed a moment later as did most of the sixteen fighters. Namid landed beside the Constitution. A moment after she was outside the fighter she was approached by Bill, who was escorted by an element of his strike force team. Bill greeted Namid warmly, and when the rest of the people joined their group he asked them to come aboard the ship so that they could conduct the briefing as efficiently as possible. A team of forty peacekeepers formed a guard perimeter on the ground around the aircraft to act as security during the meeting.
Inside the spacious control room of the Constitution, Bill had a portable table set up. On the top of that table rested the aerial photographs of the targets for the Constitution and the Alabama. The Captain of the Alabama, his pilot, strike team leader, and the pilots of the fighters who’d landed were all present.
Namid spoke quickly, but with clarity as she explained the plan. The college dormitory was to be the target for the Alabama and the sixty-one man fighting element that they possessed. They were expected to face an approximate ninety men and women. She made it clear that they had no way of knowing how many dogs the cult would have at that location. She pointed out that the cult used Dobermans and Rottweilers extensively in the nests that they had destroyed thus far so such animals should be expected.
Pausing Namid frowned and said, “There should have been a floor plan. Patricia pulled one up for the dormitory.”
Bill asked Holly to print out one from the file. While that was being done, the cook showed up with sandwiches for the pilots to take with them. He explained that the men were being fed and he didn’t want the fighter pilots to go hungry. He brought the food in seventeen paper bags. The pilots thanked him for the thoughtfulness and promised to give the four pilots in the air their food. Namid was famished. She hadn’t eaten all day. She’d been too busy flying. She was especially grateful for the food.
When Holly brought the floor plan over Namid pointed out that which Pete had wanted the strike team to note. “These red exits are boarded up from the outside. The green exits are not, and show signs of recent use.” Then she pointed to a place on the floor plan and said, “That exit leads down into the basement of the place and once housed the large laundry room. Pete thinks that would be the best place to keep prisoners.” Now pointing to three critical locations she marked them with a red pen and said, “Pete thinks if you take these three positions you’ll be able to hold off the cult members while you rescue the prisoners.”
“That should work well, provided the prisoners are actually in the basement,” the Captain of the Alabama said.
Nodding Namid said, “Pete thinks it likely that at least some dogs will be roaming free in that basement to prevent escape attempts.”
The captain nodded and thanked her for the briefing. “Once they are out do we burn the place down or take it room by room.”
“Pete anticipated that question, so he said to tell you tha
t is your call gentlemen. Firing either of the locations should not prove a fire hazard to the rest of the city, however, there is always a possibility that not all prisoners would be located in one place inside the structures,” Namid pointed out Pete’s concern. She added his final thoughts on the matter when she said, “Ultimately, the entry team will have to make the call.”
The strike team leader nodded his acceptance of that order. He’d still consult with the captain of course. But he understood that unless they were physically in those areas at the time there was no way that the officers could know the severity of the situation.
Namid showed the pilot the spot that Tim recommended to land his ship.
Next Namid briefed Bill and his pilot on where to land their ship and then she proceeded to explain what they knew of his target. “Captain Young, your target is a nightmare. That’s why the Constitution drew this target. You have the largest force to use for the attack.”
Namid quickly grabbed the floor plan and said, “The red exists are boarded up from the outside but note the numerous green exits. Sergeant Carter looked and grunted in surprise as he counted the eight exists. “And that’s just if they stick to those. They could always try to break through a boarded up exit.”
“The floor plan shows you what a nightmarish maze the inside of the hospital really is, due to numerous remodeling efforts that seem to have been planned by an insane architect. The second floor is a bit better, and in the case of the hospital, this is where Pete thinks the prisoners will be.” Namid pointed to a large storage room located in the center of the second floor. “Note that there is only one door leading in and out of the storage room.”
“Now in this case, Pete suggests a rescue by means of these windows,” Namid said and drew the next photograph from the bottom of the stack. She pointed to the huge bay windows separated by a narrow strip of window framing that they thought was made of steel. “Your demolitions experts will have to plant charges. Pete said they’d know where. Just enough to take out that cross support then you are to effect a Salina extraction,” Namid said and Bill smiled at the memory that this evoked.
“Only this time it will be the bay door of the Constitution that will be available to evacuate prisoners.” Turning to the pilot, Namid said. “I know it looks impossibly tight, but if you approach from the top and then descend you can make it with fifty feet to spare. Tim said that you could do it, and to tell you that he has no doubt in your ability in this regard.”
“I’ll get it done,” the pilot said firmly.
“I share Tim’s faith in your ability. I know you will, Vince,” Namid said to Corporal Sexton.
“Sergeant Carter, Pete says the two staircases here, and here, will be the greatest threat to you on the second floor,” Namid said, pointing them out to the sergeant. “He also advises that if there are dogs present then he’d almost bet some would be around that central room roaming the aisles,” she added.
“That’s how I’d do it, if I were the enemy,” the sergeant conceded.
“As to the rest of the floors, it is critical to note that the plans are probably useless with the exception of the locations of the staircases,” Namid stated frowning. “The building underwent extensive remodeling on the third, fourth, fifth, and sixth floors. The floor plans we have available for those floors are outdated,” she warned.
“Your orders are the same as those of the Alabama. Get the prisoners out, then take it floor by floor or burn it to the ground. Use your own best judgment, but do remember that it is possible other prisoners are being held elsewhere,” Namid said.
Looking at the two captains and their men Namid said, “Pete wanted me to wish you all good luck. Remember the secret weapons of the females. They are deadly when cornered,” Namid said and pointed to her right, and then her left index fingernails.
“Fighter pilots, the council wants five fighters with each of the mainline ships. Flight leader Jeff Brown will lead four to assist the Alabama. Melissa is in charge of her eagle squadron, and one of you others will be flying with them. The remaining ten will come with me. I’ll lead you to your areas of responsibility. We have two exits to cover. Your primary missions are to fly top cover, and watch for cultists attempting to escape. Tim says to remember that each nest will contain prisoners so be careful if you decide to fire.” Namid paused and glanced around the room. “Does everyone understand their mission instructions?” she asked.
Everyone indicated his or her understanding of the instructions, so the meeting adjourned.
Flight leader Jeff Brown escorted Namid to her fighter. He held her bag of food while she climbed into her cockpit. He climbed up on her wing beside her and handed her the bag of sandwiches and said, “You be careful, Namid.” The pilot paused and looked her in the eyes with a pained expression, and he confessed, “I had a bad dream about you last night. I dreamed you were over a field near a church bus. You landed and got out of your fighter to help a child wandering across the field, and were taken by vampire freaks.”
Namid was surprised but to her credit, she kept the surprise off her face. She said, “Why, cowboy, I didn’t know you cared.”
She smiled at him, but noted the hurt look in his eyes when he said, “I know.” Jeff jumped down off the fighter and turned to go to his own.
Namid was out of her fighter and on the asphalt before he got ten feet. “Wait, Jeff,” she said and walked rapidly toward him. Her right knee ached and her limp was noticeable as she approached. She wished she could have walked toward him with more grace and poise.
“Yes, Namid?” Jeff asked.
“I’m tired of waiting for you to ask. When this is over do you want to go to a dance in town with me on a night when we’re both off duty?” Namid asked. She couldn’t believe that she was asking Jeff out on a date, but in their line of work, it wasn’t wise to put off relationships.
“I’d love to, Namid,” Jeff said and then he took her chin in his hand and tilted her face up toward his so that he could look into her eyes. He kissed her then, and said, “You remember my warning. Do not land by a church bus.”
Namid kissed Jeff passionately, and then she backed away still looking at him. “I warn you, cowboy. If you stand me up, I’ll shoot you down,” she said and then she smiled happily.
Jeff thought she had a gorgeous smile when she smiled that way. “You’d be one of the few who could do it too, Phoenix,” he said smiling.
“You two get a room, and I’ll lead the squadron!” shouted Jeff’s wingman and some of the other pilots laughed.
Laughing, Jeff waved goodbye to Namid and ran toward his fighter.
Namid climbed into her own fighter, and mentally thanked Maggie for coming to her and revealing the truth about Jeff’s feelings. She knew now that Maggie had been right. Jeff was so unsure of how she felt that he would have never made the first move. But he’d made the second, and she thought he’d made it rather well. She smiled as she remembered his kiss and savored the moment for a few seconds.
As she led the ten fighters with her to the first entrance of the cave, Namid remembered Jeff’s warning and was troubled. She’d spotted that church bus less than half an hour before he’d arrived.
***
The Peacekeeper approached the landing zone at tree top level and landed beside the vehicles that Namid had located. In the lieutenant’s absence, the strike team was under the command of Sergeant David Thompson. The team disabled the vehicles present in three minutes. Once that was accomplished, they moved across the field and through the forest along the trail left by the cult members. When they came to the edge of the woods, the sergeant stopped the team and had the snipers study the barn. They were looking to see if they could spot any guards present in, or around the old barn that was situated two hundred yards to the north and west. The snipers used their powerful telescopic sights to survey the area in a methodical and professional manner.
After studying the area for several minutes from three different angles the snipers repo
rted no sign of movement. They also reported that they saw nothing obvious that could indicate that people were or were not present. The sergeant didn’t like that. He’d much rather have had visible guards that they could be certain were there than to have to move his men across two hundred yards of open terrain while hoping no one was present.
He decided to stay in the woods and make their way to a position where they could approach the barn from the side. In this manner, he hoped to escape the detection of any potential enemies inside the structure. He was concerned with the open hayloft door in the front. It was possible that an enemy sniper was concealed in that hay so cleverly that he might escape detection. An approach from the side of the structure would deny the enemy the use of that high ground from which they could attack his team without exposing themselves.
It took the team fifteen minutes to get to the spot where he wanted to make the crossing. Sergeant Thompson went first, followed by two more men. He would not risk the entire team until he knew that it was safe for them to approach the old building. When the sergeant got to the barn he stood still and listened closely with his ear placed against the wall of the barn, but he heard nothing that would indicate a human presence. He made his way around toward the front of the barn as the rest of the team made the crossing from the forest.