by W. R. Benton
The Fall of America
Book 4 - Winter Ops
W.R. Benton
ISBN 978-1-939812-87-2
Kindle Edition 1.00
© Copyright 2015 W.R. Benton
All Rights Reserved
Ebook Production by Loose Cannon Enterprises
No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the written permission of the author and/or the publisher. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously and any resemblance to actual persons living or dead, events or locales, is entirely coincidental.
Author Photos © Copyright 2015, Melanie D. Calvert, used with permission
© Contents Copyright 2015 by W.R. Benton, All Rights Reserved.
Cover Photo by: www.shutterstock.com, used with permission
Book layout and design by W R Benton LLC, © copyright 2015
Edited by: Bobbie La Cour, Juanita Duryea, and Daniel Williams
“Loyalty to country ALWAYS. Loyalty to government, when it deserves it.”
― Mark Twain
“I am an American; free born and free bred, where I acknowledge no man as my superior, except for his own worth, or as my inferior, except for his own demerit.”
― Theodore Roosevelt
“The soldier is the Army. No army is better than its soldiers. The soldier is also a citizen. In fact, the highest obligation and privilege of citizenship is that of bearing arms for one’s country”
― George S. Patton Jr.
Books in this series by W.R. Benton
The Fall of America, Book 4, Winter Ops
The Fall of America, Book 3, Enemy Within
The Fall of America, Book 2, Fatal Encounters
The Fall of America: Book 1, Premonition of Death — Now in Audio Edition
Visit http://www.amazon.com/author/wrbenton/ for more WR Benton titles.
Dedications
This book is dedicated to the memory of Edna Marie Benton, August 1931 – May 2015, my mother, who kept me writing when times were rough, because of her guidance when I was a child. Mom taught me to not be a quitter and to work toward my goals. It was through her patient and tender teachings that I am the man I am today.
To Juanita Duryea, who is still fighting a continuous battle for the full recovery of her health. Juanita is true gem, in all senses of the word, a beautiful Southern belle, and wonderful woman. Keep up the fight, we love you.
Foreword
I've had many comments about this series, with some being down right mean and ugly, but make no doubt about it, when America falls and not if, it will turn mean and ugly, too. Our society will be destroyed as we know it and law, along with order, will disappear, to be replaced by chaos and death. The strong will kill the weak, and our weak will the first ones to perish. It's this author's opinion that over the years, most Americans have become lazy, obese, and soft, so the collapse of our nation will hit most folks hard. Those people who years earlier had strong opinions against gun ownership, will now own guns or die. People will die by guns, knives, and almost any object that can become a weapon will become one. While robbery, rape and murder will be common, handfuls of people will band together for protection. Cells or tribes will form, and mankind will revert back thousands of years. Rest assured, only the strongest and best armed will survive. Society will be made up of those alive and those who will soon be dead.
Then, major countries who we owe money, and lots of it, will come for real estate since our being able to pay them back will be out of the question. Those Americans who can resist will do so and viciously, too. It will be a war with no quarter given and none expected for either side. In this series I have the Russians coming, but it could be almost any major power, including China. We are now hopelessly in debt and eventually, I feel our overspending by those we elect to serve us will bring about the death of our country. I cannot understand why our veterans are not having their needs met, American children go hungry, our elderly are not cared for, and much more, while we give billions of dollars we don't have to countries that hate us. I say, let our enemies hate us for free, and every child knows you can't buy friendship.
2013 information from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, states there are about 300 millions guns in the United States, but I'm sure there are many more weapons on hand that have never been registered. Out of that number of weapons, 23 million to 43.7 million of those guns are owned by hunters; this estimate came from the 2001 National Survey Of Fishing, Hunting and Wildlife-Related Recreation, which was based on the annual data provided by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service. According to the VA, there are 19.6 million living veterans in 2013 in the United States, of which 1.6 million are women. So, with roughly 23 (using the lower figure for hunters) million men and women, who know how to safely use a weapon and can shoot, our private sector army is huge. Now, in some cases individuals may be both a hunter and a veteran, but regardless, the figure is large. According to Reuters, The United States has 90 guns for every 100 citizens, and that's a fascinating figure. It is obvious now why the United States has never been invaded before, because we have the largest armed private fighting force in the world.
Of those weapons, data from the 1994 U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives figures, shows approximately 65 million pistols of all types, 70 million rifles of all calibers and types and 49 million shotguns. As you can see, this is not even close to the total count shown above, but there is almost a 20 year gap between the information in 1994 and 2013. Regardless of the actual numbers, we have a lot of weapons in this country, and most would be used to fight off an invader.
The biggest threat to the defenders will be technology, which will be difficult to confront, unless all aspects of an attack favor the attacking partisan force. I suspect helicopters alone will kill many, not to mention tanks, missiles, and other weapons. However, the invaders will find one weapon carried by the Americans that no one can defeat; our patriotic attitude. We're a hard-headed people when it comes to our liberty and I suspect our defenders will fight to capture weapons, just to turn them against our enemies. I also suspect all politics will disappear, along with our political correctness, and there will only be one active political party, the American party.
So, sit back and enjoy book four of my series, “The Fall of America, Winter Ops,” and see America as it may be one day. I hope and pray this will never happen, but right now I'm deathly afraid of the direction our government is heading. I feel our political correctness, ISIS, and many other threats, as well as our runaway spending, will one day spell the end to a country I love. I care about this nation so much, I spent over 26 years of my life in uniform to help protect her. May God bless and protect the United States of America.
WR Benton
Jackson, Mississippi
July 2015
“I predict future happiness for Americans if they can prevent the government from wasting the labors of the people under the pretense of taking care of them.”
—Thomas Jefferson
“My reading of history convinces me that most bad government results from too much government.”
—Thomas Jefferson
Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chap
ter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty One
Chapter Twenty Two
Chapter Twenty Three
About the Author
Excerpt from Jake Masters #1
What is the series “The Fall of America” about?
What if it all came crashing down?
It started with the biggest stock market crash in history. Banks closed down under the weight of their bogus investments, and the financial sector failed. People looked to the government to make it all better. However, they couldn't. Hyper-inflation, mass unemployment and infrastructure started to breakdown. The food trucks didn't show up at the stores, and the shelves went empty.
Things turned ugly fast when there was no power for long parts of the day—then forever. Cops, doctors, and trash collectors just stopped showing up for work when the paychecks were delayed too often, or never came. Things started falling apart quickly after that. Whole regions declared a "State of Emergency" in an effort to maintain order and civility, but it wasn't always enough. Starvation, looting and murder became the norm. Then, our American civilization collapsed completely.
The Fall of America, Book 1: Premonition of Death is the beginning of a new series, about an average man who's life goes downhill fast, once society breaks down. Set in the rural south, a scorched-earth showdown with some local thugs leaves John and his wife homeless, and on the run. He encounters a member of a survivalist group, made up of former military personnel, and joining them may be his only hope. Just basic survival becomes vicious, resistance is at any cost, as the devastated country comes under new siege—invading Russian troops
The Fall of America, Book 2: Fatal Encounters is is the continuing the saga of the fall, John and his friends come face to face with the Russians, but unlike the first book, this time they're ready and able to offer much more resistance. The invaders try to pacify the areas of the South under their control. The American resistance groups divide their forces into small cells to better operate effectively behind enemy lines. But as their efforts begin to gain ground, the Russians respond with harsh reprisals; mass executions become the norm and prison camps soon spring up in remote small towns. “Fear brings compliance,” is their motto. The battle for control of Mississippi gets hot, and a violent world gets even more ugly.
The Fall of America, Book 3: Things are turning as the partisans get more organized and with this organization comes larger attacks on Russian targets, resulting in more civilians killed in reprisals. The partisans become better organized as the Russians become even more sadistic in their tactics. The Americans are now attacking gulags and air bases when the opportunity arises and Russian casualties mount, but there is at least one traitor or more within. Can the patriots discover the enemy within?
The Fall of America, Book 4: Winter Ops. The partisans turn mean after ambushing a Russian convoy and discovering cases of the 9K32 Strela-2M missiles, or as the Russians call them, arrows. The missiles soon change how the partisans operate; they are a portable, shoulder-fired, low-altitude surface-to-air missile system with a highly explosive warhead. They have an infrared guidance system. Soon the partisans are attacking Air Bases and shooting down random helicopters using the missiles and Moscow is not pleased. However, it is the discovery of two nuclear weapons, called “suitcase nukes” by the Russians, that is about to change this war in ways that have never been considered. Which side will use the nuclear weapons first?
BOOK 4
Winter Ops
CHAPTER 1
As the man lay dying, I went through his pockets. He was a Russian, and since we had no prisoner of war camp for captives, we took no prisoners. I'd heard we had some special prisoners held in the swamps, but I'd never seen one. I stuck the long sharp blade of my skinning knife deep under his ribs and then twisted the blade as I moved it quickly from side-to-side. While you may think me cruel, he'd suffered a severe head injury and a large chunk of his skull was missing along with a fair portion of his brain. I felt I was doing him a favor. Since I'm a partisan and bullets are hard to come by, I used my knife. Because he was near death, he'd not even screamed when my long blade entered him. Blood, with a strong scent of copper, quickly pooled under the mans lower back.
“Let's move, and do it now.” my wife Sandra said. Once a stunning beauty, the Russians had captured her and while being tortured, her face was disfigured, her ears and lips now missing.
“Are the others ready?”
“Oh, yeah, and they're worried about the helicopters we've heard all morning. Did you find anything of value on this man?”
“A map, Bison and pistol, as well as a canvas couriers pouch, and some letters from home. He's a Junior Sergeant, so being mounted on a motorcycle, I suspect he was carrying orders and such. I've not looked in his pouch. I'll do that once back at camp.”
“Let's move, and do it now.” she suggested, since I really outranked her, but we all know who is the boss in a marriage.
I smiled and said, “Alright, let's move —”
There came a sudden noise and someone yelled, “Chopper!”
We were in a wooded area, with a gravel road running down the middle. The Russian dispatch rider had been moving along the road at a fair clip, when Joyce, my sniper, took him out with one shot. The bullet had struck his head and while he was already dead, his body was taking it's sweet time to shut down. So, I'd killed him.
“Into the trees!” I yelled, hoping we could down a chopper. Once in position, the sound of the aircraft grew louder, which meant it was getting closer. I pulled a LAW from my backpack, extended it and was ready. I place it on my shoulder, glanced around, cleared the area behind me, and listened closely for the aircraft.
The chopper came flying slowly down the middle of the road, hovered over the crashed motorcycle, and then two men came out the aircraft doors using ropes. When the men were about halfway to the ground, I fired the LAW and the bird took a direct hit on the nose. A fireball resulted and the chopper fell hard to the ground where the fuel tanks exploded, sending up a huge fireball of red and black greasy looking smoke. A man ran from the fire, fully engulfed in flames, and after a few feet, he fell to his knees. Seconds later he fell to his side, still burning, but no longer moving.
“Arwood, plant some pressure detonating mines around the crash site and have a couple of others help you. Near the mines, add some toe-poppers as surprises.”
He replied, “I hear ya. Walsh, Kerr, and Silverwolf, help me plant some surprises. Quickly now, we don't have much time.”
It was then the ammo began to cook off from the heat and other explosives exploded as well, which caused a large black cloud to rise above the crash site.
“Let's move, people, and do it now!” I yelled ten minutes later and then added, “Arwood on point and Kelly, you bring up the rear. Move at a fast clip, but watch for mines.”
“Yo!” Arwood said and moved forward. He was a smallish man with a good sense of humor, meek, and had been a music teacher before the fall. There was little about him that was unusual, except his small size and bald head, which sported a little brown hair on the sides. He was thin, but all of us were. However, with that said, he was an excellent scout when deep in Injun country.
Kelly was a tall man, closer to seven feet than six, serious, red hair and beard, and officially my medic. Unlike in previous wars or conflicts, he wore no identifying red cross on a white arm band, and would kill as quickly as most of us. I think he said he'd been a paramedic before the fall and had simply picked up a gun and joined the fight.
We moved cross country quickly and not on any beaten paths. Both sides frequently mined trails and I avoided them, especially when in Russian controlled areas. My primary concern now was avoiding searching aircraft and ambushes
. The Russian bear would be pissed, but he'd been pissed before, and at us. My only secret to staying alive was to move faster than they expected me to move so I'd be out of their search circle. The sky was gray with light winds, and the temperature was near freezing. The clouds looked like snow, but we rarely got snow in Mississippi, so I expected an ice storm or rain.
Less than ten minutes later, my questions on the weather were answered, when it began spitting sleet. We continued to move and would move at all costs until I felt safe again. If the weather turned to rain we'd hole up, because in wet weather the infrared imaging equipment on the Russian helicopters failed to work properly most of the time. That meant we could have a fire and warm food for a change.
Arwood suddenly stopped and raised his right hand in a fist; he'd seen danger of some sort. He squatted in the grasses, scanned the area around us and then moved toward me. I moved forward to meet him. Once at my side, he cupped his hands around my ear and whispered, “Smoke; do you smell it?”
I sniffed the air but smelled nothing. He took my arm and moved forward to his old position. I then picked up the faint smell of a cigarette. I motioned for everyone to stay in place, as he and I moved toward the source. If there were other partisans in the area, I had to warn them of the danger since we'd downed a chopper. If they were Russians, we'd kill them if possible.
Less than 100 yards later, I peeked through some brush and watched a squad of Russian soldiers preparing a meal. They were dirty, and looked tired and sleepy. I turned and made my way back to my group. Once there, I moved them forward a couple hundred yards and explained what I'd seen.