by Cliff Deane
“Beats the hell out of me,” said Ralph, “three days ago Adan came over from the Skonk Works, as he likes to call it and announced that his bunch of genius’ were able to do some workarounds and got the A/C working A/C. Who am I to complain?
A/C will be for sale all over Defiance and then the ROA. Adan says that with the current supplies of A/C equipment available, the price is going to be set at three Patriot Dollars each, plus $2.00 for an electrician to install, wire and delivery will be an additional $6.00. I know it comes out to an average of one and one-half week’s wages, but people will scrimp and save; soon everyone will have solar energy running their air conditioners.
Again, Levi, we owe it all to you. If you hadn’t insisted we pull electricians out of the walkers, well, none of this would be possible.
Okay, before your head swells any further let’s move on; enough about a/c, tell me all about Suffolk.”
Levi briefed Ralph and added, “Mr. Adam Ward is your man for Mayor. Everyone there is very excited to join the ROA. The guess is that about one thousand people are currently in residence.”
The two men decided that they would visit Darren following their meeting.
“Now, Mr. President…”
“Oh, crap,” interrupted Ralph, here you go with that Mr. President crap. Go ahead, tell me the bad news.”
“Yes sir, I want to discuss the Caliphate with you just to make sure I have my facts straight and our plan in motion.”
“All right, General, fire away.”
Levi looked directly into Ralph’s face and said, “Ralph, as I understand the numbers you gave me; if 10% have survived, then we could be looking at a number around six-hundred and fifty thousand. We should consider at least half of them as potential combatants.
I was reminded of a Bill O’Reilly segment where he discussed the percentage of Muslims in America that support Sharia Law in America; that number was 51%. I extrapolated that figure to the suspicioned number of Muslim survivors and came up with a bit over three-hundred and fifty thousand citizens of the Caliphate in support of Sharia. Personally, I think this number is low in the current world environment; people often turn to radicalized religious leaders in times like this. The bottom line is; Houston, we have a problem.
Though I agree that is a huge number, but the non-Islamist population is thirty-four million. Maybe I’m just not seeing the proper perspective; so help me out here. How can the Islamists defeat thirty-four million?”
Ralph said, “The Islamic population was predominantly centered in large compacted communities. Our thirty-four million are spread out all over the continent, and those thirty-four million have no central command structure, as far as we know, other than the ROA. I think you’ll agree that the ROA is ill-equipped to be the Central Command Structure for a continent-wide war.”
The word you sent is that they plan to conquer the entire continent, and they will if we do not stop them before they grow too strong. So, I don’t see how we can do anything else if I understand your mission guidance.”
Levi’s face became very pale as he tried to wrap his head around the ramifications of what he had just learned.”
Ralph asked, “Levi, what’s your plan? I mean, you do have a plan, right?”
“Do you want me in charge of this mess?”
“Don’t be a smartass. Do you have a plan, General?”
Levi smiled for the first time and said, “Well, not a battle plan, but here is what I have so far. I have ordered Colonel Eldridge and Colonel Smith to Lejeune to build a real mechanized army, complete with attack helos; in the meantime, I plan to take Carter and Simms on a LRRP to DC to try to find out how far along this mess has gotten.”
“Whoa, wait, stop; Lurp? What in the hell is a Lurp?”
“Sorry Ralph; LRRP is an acronym for Long Range Recon Patrol, and it’s pronounced Lurp. You with me know?”
“Yeah, wiseass, I’m with you now; go ahead,” said Ralph.
“Good, now if I may continue; I plan to have us back within six weeks, or so. By then I will have a battle plan for you. So, whadaya think?”
“Come on, Levi, why do you always think that you have to be the one to go? Shouldn’t you be here to coordinate and supervise all these differing missions going on in DC and Lejeune?”
Levi sat up in his chair and said, “Oh, hell no! The right people are in place for that job, and I need to see the situation for myself if I’m going to be able to make the best possible battle plan.
Your job, Mr. President, is to provide the food we need so Ben can keep everyone fed.”
“But, aren’t you taking Gus and Kate along with you. If you do, then I’ll at least, know that you will, have some adult supervision; from Kate, I mean.”
“Oh crap, Kate, yeah she has to go. Ralph, you should have seen her; I’m telling you, that girl is becoming a true warrior. Unfortunately, it seems like she is a warrior one minute, then when the battle is over she becomes my little girl; sometimes I fear she is developing multiple personalities.
She was the first to get to Bull and shot him in the leg. Well, instead of grabbing his leg he tried to reload his pistol, so Kate shot him through the heart. When I questioned her about the terrible shot of hitting him in the leg, instead of the chest; she calmly agreed that it was a terrible shot and was totally pissed at herself for missing her true target by three inches. Ralph, her plan was to shoot his prick off. She finished with a shot to the heart when he went for his weapon, and as soon as she told me that she took off to be with Kevin.”
Ralph said, “Levi, you could both stay here, and maybe she’ll be your little girl, full time, but with you traipsing all over Hell’s half acre, she will bounce back and forth.”
“Yes,” said Levi, “but this world, as we both know, is unpredictable and I don’t want her to be unprepared if something happened to me, and the ROA. No, she needs the skills she is learning by my side, in the field.”
Ralph said, “My friend, I know this is difficult for you and from what you have said, all we can do is continue her training, show her lots of love, and hope for the best.
Okay, we could pro and con this conversation all day, but let’s move to Gus; why aren’t you taking him?”
Levi then told Ralph that he would love to take Gus, but he was sure Gus would want to stay here with Darren while he recovers.
Ralph said, “Hrrumph; yeah, right! Come on; let’s go see how Darren is doing.”
◎
Levi tapped on Darren’s door.
Gus opened the door and motioned them to come in. Darren would soon need to get back to sleep, but he was pleased to see Levi and Ralph.
They chatted with Darren for a couple of moments before Levi told him that sleep was his best friend right now.
As if on cue, Darren’s eyes closed as the morphine finally did its job.
“Gus, can you step outside for a moment, I have something I’d like to discuss with you.”
Outside, in the short hallway, Levi told Gus that he would take Tim, Kevin, and Kate on a LRRP to DC. Mike Guyardo wanted to be in charge of night ops, but I think he can, for now anyway, be better utilized at the CO of the Training Battalion at Lejeune. I’ve also placed Scott Eldridge in overall command and Ben is his XO. These folks have been sent to Lejeune and will spend the next three months finding trained personnel, recruiting, training on urban combat tactics, finding helo mechanics, pilots, tankers, and well, whatever was needed to go to war with the Caliphate.
Gus was taken aback that Levi didn’t include him in this long range recon patrol thing and made his feelings known. “Levi, what makes you think you are going to DC without me?”
“Gus, Gus, come on, don’t you think you should remain here with your son while he recuperates. Don’t get all pissy; I’m trying to be a good, caring friend here.”
“Levi, sometimes you can really be a horse’s ass, you know that?”
Ralph snickered and muttered, “Ya’ think?”
“It will be at least three days
before we can be ready to leave. By that time Darren will be out of the woods.
Darren knows that the future of the ROA revolves around the outcome of the coming war with the Caliphate and would be really pissed if I decided to sit around here, all sad-eyed and pitiful, trying to hold his hand through the months of recuperation and rehab. My meddling would probably make his recovery take much longer.
Besides, without me along to cover your six, you’d be dead in a week, and we’d lose the whole damned war. So I am going, and that’s that, you hear me…sir?”
Ralph, elbowed Levi in the ribs and said, in low tones, “Told ya’. Gentlemen, your initial plans are approved.”
◎◎◎
Chapter 9
DC Traffic Jam
2 May0700
ROA, HQ
Defiance, ROA
The morning dawned with harsh streaks of red across the dawn skies and a westerly wind that promised rain by mid-afternoon. The early morning breeze seemed to be just a bit dampish; adding impetus to the threat of rain; later in the day. Levi and Gus were both glad that they were not traveling on horseback.
The trip to DC would be a two Jeep and trailers convoy. Tim and Kevin would lead in an up-gunned military jeep, followed by Levi, Gus, and Kate in a civilian Jeep Wrangler. The gear taken by these five had only one addition; two Accuracy International L115 Bolt-Action Sniper Rifles chambered in .308; equipped with a suppressor and the Schmidt & Bender 3-12x50 PM II telescopic sights.
Gus had retrieved them from the Camp Lejeune weapons museum on his last retrieval mission. He told Levi that this was the identical rifle used by a Brit Sniper to record the longest kill in history during November of 2009 when he successfully engaged and defeated a pair of Taliban machine gunners at a range of 2,707 yards, well over a mile and a half.
Levi was impressed and told Gus that his skills were not quite as high as that Brit Sniper, but liked the idea of being able to really reach out and touch a bad guy from way far away. “A mile and a half, hell, Gus, I can hardly see that far.”
Gus laughed and said, “Yeah, I know, still, for the last two days we’ve been hitting kill shots at two thousand feet with the upgraded M-14s. I figure with the suppressors, we should be able to knock a few over with no one hearing the shot that killed them, and if we’re sure no one sees the flash, we might just line up another shot.”
Ralph came out to say goodbye and wish them luck on their Lurp.
The team pulled up to the Deep Creek roadblock at 0800 to allow the outpost to record the time as 0801 when “Duke 6” crossed the line into Indian Territory. Kate was manning the radio and made a commo check with “Base.” Within another hour, Duke reached the Mayor’s Office in Suffolk to see how things were shaping up.
They met with Adam who told them that two men who had been in the Mayor’s Office before the CME were demanding to be reinstalled as Mayor; neither man had opted to work with the resistance. Most of the Suffolk citizen’s just laughed at these two men…most. At any rate, Adam was functioning as Mayor and was doing well in selecting those who would get the town running again. He reported that Reps of the ROA had already made contact and were evaluating Suffolk for membership in the ROA.
Criminal gangs in Newport News were moving out and heading to greener pastures.
Once they were back on the road and headed north to DC, the road became more dangerous. LRRP Duke discovered just how dangerous, only ten miles out of Suffolk.
“Duke 6: (Levi) Duke 1: (Tim) be prepared to stop just before the next curve: Over.”
“Duke 1: Duke 6: Roger, pulling to the side now: Over.”
“Roger 6: Better pull out one of the long guns. K will direct you to our location: Out.”
As Gus stopped the Jeep, Kevin came up and reported that there was an ambush just ahead about six hundred meters beyond Tim’s position.
Kate retrieved the L-115 from the back seat of the Wrangler and brought it up to Levi. Kate remained as security for the Wrangler as Levi and Gus followed Kevin to Tim’s position.
Tim provided a sitrep describing three men ahead manning an ambush position. Thermals had verified that only three bushwhackers were present.
“How do we know they aren’t just locals guarding the approach to their homes?”
Tim handed Levi the binoculars and said, “Here, sir, look to the left about ten degrees from the man in the foxhole.”
After searching the area for ten seconds, Levi said, “Oh crap,” and started to hand the binos to Gus who quickly zeroed in on that Levi had seen.
“Yeah, crap,” said Gus. “There must be thirty suitcases strewn about that spot, and I don’t think these guys are planning to go anywhere; murderers and thieves.”
Tim said, “Yes sir, now please look just to the right of the road on a line even with the ambush. It’s a little hard to see because it’s just beyond that abandoned car.”
Gus was first to see the five poles standing up from the ground; they held what could only be scalps.
“Levi,” said Gus, “these guys have got to go.”
“Oh, hell yes,” said Levi, “Tim, are we really seeing scalps on those poles?”
“Yes sir, we can’t imagine how they could be anything else. What are your orders, sir?”
With a scowl, Levi simply said, “We kill ‘em.”
Levi took the rifle from Gus and said, “I’ll take the one closest to the road; Kevin, please act as my spotter.”
“Yes sir,” said Kevin as he turned to retrieve the spotter’s scope from his vehicle.
The winds had picked up to around five miles per hour. Kevin recommended Levi make the modest sight adjustment and to set his range to five hundred and eighty-seven meters.
Levi extended the bipod legs and assumed a prone shooting position. He made the scope adjustments exhaled one-half of his breath and gently squeezed the trigger.
It took a smidge over 1.5 seconds for the .308 round to reach its target. The round struck the man on his left collarbone and deflected downward into his heart.
The two remaining ambushers failed to hear the shot and did not immediately react.
“Great shot, Levi,” said Gus.
Levi was not so thrilled and told them that he was trying for a head shot.
As each man needed to test his skill at such a distance, Gus traded places with Levi, followed by Tim. Each man fell in turn as each shot found its mark. Kate made it clear that the next target was hers.
Upon investigation of the bodies, it was decided that both Gus and Tim had made perfect shots; Levi, effective, but lucky.
When the crew inspected the ambush site, they noticed that the men were wearing several wrist watches, none of which worked. They also found seventeen bodies thrown into a drainage ditch, fifty yards farther down the road. The conclusion was that these animals had been waylaying anyone who came along the road, for a long time.
The decaying bodies lay strewn about like rag dolls.
The weapons used by these men were excellent quality ARs, which along with the ammunition went into Team Duke’s arsenal.
The remainder of the day passed quietly until they came to the outskirts of Alexandria Virginia; beyond Alexandria lay I-395 the only viable route into DC, and it was a wasteland of abandoned autos. At first glance, the median looked as though it might be passable, but it soon became obvious that far too many semi-trucks had veered off the road to avoid crashing into the cars just ahead of then.
The team had avoided Interstate travel when possible, even the county roads had been difficult to traverse, and the closer they came to DC, the more clogged the roads became.
Levi and Gus stood at an overpass looking down onto the nightmare traffic jam that was I-395. It was at this moment that they both realized the full extent of the impassability of the Interstate system leading to every large city in America.
Levi said, “Dear God, I mean, I knew it was bad, but I really had no concept of what it would actually be like around large cities. All acros
s the country, there must be more than one hundred million vehicles clogging the roads. Gus, this is insane, how can it ever be cleared?”
Gus said he thought it would take a thousand years to accomplish that task, and by that time, the roads would be absolutely impassable. By that time it would appear that all of these vehicles had been parked in a giant, old growth forest. Shoot, they will be impassable in ten years, even if they were open to traffic.
My friend, I don’t think we will be driving into DC, and I do not want to walk in after hiding the jeeps. That just creates far too great a risk of losing our vehicles.”
“I agree,” said Levi, “and if we can’t get to them, then they can’t get to us, at least with combat vehicles in combat formations large enough to defeat the ROA.”
Gus agreed, with one caveat, suicide bomber strike teams. “This seems to me to reopen the door to an unending stream of terrorist attacks.”
“You’re right; I think we need to alter our strategy a bit.” They discussed for several minutes the possibility of taking the fight to the Caliphate using small unit tactics. Ultimately it was decided to continue the training and equipping of the Armored Cavalry Squadron, in the hope of using M88 VTRs (Vehicle Track Recovery) to, at least push open one lane for traffic. Clearing even one lane would be highly time-consuming and labor intensive, yet it was surely needed.
Levi and Gus both felt that immediate action should be taken to send in sniper and sapper teams. The sniper teams would attempt to cut the heads off the snake by taking out the Imams and anyone who appeared to be in charge of any observed gathering.
This plan was similar to that used by the Soviets during the Battle of Stalingrad; kill the officers.
The sappers would use explosives to destroy command and control facilities; create small, hasty mine fields directly in the path of approaching groups of armed men. These Sappers would also serve as Forward Air Controllers (FACs) to guide the helicopter gunships onto targets of opportunity, that is, if they ever got choppers back in the air.