“Why were you working for that scum?” Lucas asked Duke.
“I figured if I followed him, eventually he’d lead me to you.”
“And why were you in such a rush to find me?”
Duke laughed dryly. “Believe it or not, it started off as a business proposition. Little late now, I suppose. But I’m here, so all’s well that ends well, right?” He looked around. “Nice digs. Brett here told us some about it. Seems like a good situation – except for the Mongol horde that wants to burn the place to the ground.” Duke paused. “How’s the little girl and her mom?”
Lucas managed a small grin. “Her aunt. They’re both good.”
“I never doubted they would be, with you riding herd.”
Lucas wasn’t finished with Luis. “How did you figure an explosion would knock out the guns? They’re designed to take a lot of abuse.”
“Went for the loading and targeting systems. These are computer driven, so destroy those, and they’re inoperable. We were going to detonate the third one as well as the trailer with the shells, but the guards interrupted before we could get to them.”
“He’s got hundreds of shells,” Aaron said. “It’ll be ugly if he gets to put them to use.”
The questioning continued for a good hour as the stable hands took the horses to the barn. The inhabitants were milling about making preparations for the battle. Elliot’s radio crackled and a voice rang from the speaker – the leader of the team that was to blow the bridge.
“They’re on approach. I see…buses and trucks. Over.”
Elliot pressed the transmit button. “Artillery? Over.”
A pause. “One gun being towed at the back of the column.” Another pause. “Estimate they’ll be on the bridge in about two minutes.”
“Any chance you can get them all when it collapses? Over.”
“Negative. Maybe the first few vehicles. It’s a long column. I’m signing off. Over and out.”
The plan was to blow the bridge and attack the force with the Browning, further thinning the ranks and making getting across the river a major obstacle. Days of planning, of setting shaped charges, of checking and rechecking the work, were about to come to fruition – hopefully in a deadly plunge into the Rio Grande.
~ ~ ~
Jude stopped the column as it neared the bridge, the trek that had begun before dawn finally over. According to his reckoning based on an old map, once across, they could be at Los Alamos in an hour or two and be able to make their way through the canyons under cover of darkness – although any advantage they might have had due to surprise had clearly been lost. Still, they had plentiful night vision gear, and Magnus’s plan was to rush the valley after softening it with nonstop shelling while his troops moved into position. Jude wasn’t convinced that would work as well as Magnus believed, but he also knew better than to argue. As it was, Magnus was blaming Jude for failing to prevent the attacks that had wreaked such havoc on the force.
He studied the bridge and the far bank with his binoculars and stiffened when he heard the heavy crunch of boots on gravel behind him. He didn’t need to turn around to know Magnus had come for a look himself – the man exuded a presence that was palpable.
“What are you waiting for?” Magnus asked.
“Checking the bridge.” He swept the area and shook his head as he lowered the spyglasses. “I want to get some men on it to search for mines. I don’t want to take anything for granted. This would be a natural point to block us, at least temporarily.”
“Delaying the inevitable.”
Jude held his tongue. He privately thought that Magnus had overlooked the possibility that the occupants of the valley had fled in advance of his attack, and that they’d wind up having expended all their energy and hundreds of men for nothing. That was what Jude would have done in the face of an overwhelming force headed at him – he’d have launched token attacks and mined the roads to buy everyone time to get to safety. He’d bet that was what Magnus would discover when he finally made it into the valley, but there was no way Jude was going to voice the possibility.
Ten minutes later, the four men he’d sent to examine the understructure of the bridge reported back that from their vantage point on the bank they didn’t see anything suspicious. A sweep of the surface of the road found no mines, and Magnus was pacing by his vehicle when the men returned and pronounced it clear.
Jude scowled as he regarded the river and the smaller wood footbridge downstream. “I don’t like it. Something’s off. Why didn’t they blow the bridge?”
“They probably don’t have enough explosives. Used them up on the mines,” Magnus said.
“Maybe,” Jude said. “I want to have a look myself.”
Magnus watched him descend the steep bank and work his way to the wood structure. Jude crossed, surveying the highway bridge from the lower, smaller one, and then Magnus’s radio crackled as Jude’s voice reported.
“I can’t be sure, but it looks like there’s some suspicious material on the far end. Over.”
“What does that mean?” Magnus growled. “Suspicious material. Be clear. Over.”
“It means there’s a ridge of debris that could be nothing, or could be…something.” Jude paused. “We should get a team across the bridge to take a hard look before we put any vehicles on it. Over.”
Magnus weighed his impatience against the possibility of calling it wrong, and erred on the side of the conservative. “All right. Come back and do what you need to do. Over,” he said, and strode back to his Humvee with a shake of his head.
~ ~ ~
Richard watched the drama at the river play out through his binoculars from his concealed position on one of the hills a half mile west of the bridge, the Browning beside him cocked and loaded, sights set for the longer range.
“Come on, come on. Cross it. Just cross it. It’s safe. Really, it is,” he muttered, and then sucked in a sharp intake of breath when he saw a group of men move onto the bridge and probe the surface for mines. They returned to where several others stood at the front of the long procession of vehicles, and then one of them broke off and made his way down the bank.
“Damn. They’re not going to fall for it,” he said under his breath. His impression was confirmed when the four men who had checked for mines crossed the bridge and began working their way below it. “They’re onto us. We’re going to blow it,” he said, and flipped the cover up on the wireless transmitter that would detonate the numerous charges required to collapse the high-density reinforced span.
The gunner looked at him. “You sure?”
“Open up once it blows. Don’t wait. They’ll spot us sooner than later, so give them everything you’ve got.” Richard eyed the red button and nodded once. “Here goes nothing.”
He depressed the button and the end of the bridge lifted into the air, buckling where it met the shore, and then sagged as a cloud of dust and smoke rose into the air and blew out both sides of the span. The boom of the explosion reached them over two seconds later. Richard peered through the binoculars and cursed.
“Damn. It didn’t completely collapse.”
“Should I start shooting?” the gunner asked.
“Have at it. Make every round count.”
The big gun opened fire and stuttered after ten seconds before falling silent. The gunner fumbled with the cocking lever to clear a jam as Richard watched the reaction at the bridge. His eyes widened behind the glasses as two of the Humvees rolled forward, their identical .50-caliber M2s pointed up the hill at his position, and then they were firing in tandem. The world around him disintegrated as hundreds of high-caliber armor-piercing rounds disintegrated the rocks providing their cover, shredding him and his men to pieces in seconds.
Chapter 50
Michael started at the distant sound of the detonation as the bridge blew, the sound faint in the valley, and exchanged a look with Elliot. “That should slow them down,” he said.
“Wouldn’t make any assumptions,” Lu
cas said, checking the time. “They’re what, about twenty miles away now?”
“That’s right. But there’s no way across the river unless they go pretty far north, and that will further delay them.”
“What about the wood bridge Arnold talked about?” Lucas asked.
“We decided to leave that. They can’t get vehicles across it, and we figured it would invite them to try crossing it with horses, which would bring them out in the open for the machine gun to cut down.”
“Arnold approved that?”
“It was actually my idea,” Michael said. “Another trap.”
“Assuming everything works perfectly. What if it doesn’t?”
“So far it has.”
Lucas didn’t want to argue, but he’d never been consulted on leaving the smaller bridge intact. He would never have done so, but his sway with Elliot only went so far, and he couldn’t counter what he didn’t know about.
“See if you can raise Richard on the radio,” Elliot said.
Michael nodded and held his handset to his mouth. After several tries, he lowered it and shook his head. “If they’re shooting, which I assume they are, they probably can’t hear me.”
“That’s one possibility,” Lucas agreed. “I’d get everyone into position just in case. All noncombatants to the caves and the hospital area. Snipers to the outposts. Same for the demo crew.” They’d concealed a number of Bouncing Betties in the canyon in strategic locations, but also had charges set to induce rockslides, which would require men to trigger them at appropriate points in the Crew’s approach.
“You really think that’s necessary? I hate to get everyone into the field if we’re still hours from needing to be on alert,” Michael said. “We want to avoid the fatigue factor, if possible.”
“No matter what happens, this is the beginning of a long process. Could be many days of battle. A few hours one way or another won’t make much difference.”
Michael looked to Elliot, who nodded. “Lucas is probably right. Call an operational meeting for ten minutes from now, and get all the team leaders ready to be there and deploy immediately afterward.” Elliot turned back to Lucas. “I trust you’ll join us?”
“Glad to.”
A high-pitched whistle split the air, and the earth trembled from an explosion on one of the surrounding peaks. Over a minute later, a roar drifted across the valley from the boom of a distant howitzer. Lucas glared at Michael. “Get everyone into the bunkers. They’ll eventually get the range right.”
“But…it’s too far away,” Michael protested.
“To be accurate, sure. But it doesn’t need to be. Not with hundreds of shells – and those have to be base bleed models, which have far greater range.” Lucas frowned. “Call your meeting in the bunker and get everyone moving.”
Several minutes went by, and then another shriek confirmed Lucas’s warning – a mushroom of smoke and rock blew from the valley floor several miles east of the compound. He turned to Elliot. “Remember the guide gave them precise location information. Anyone with a map could pinpoint where to concentrate the fire.”
People were running with weapons in hand, and the team leaders were yelling orders, trying to organize and calm everyone in the face of the shelling they’d never thought would happen. Lucas didn’t have to point out that Arnold had been right. More shells landed, falling every fifteen to twenty seconds, and within minutes the blasts were closing on the compound, with only occasional detonations badly off the mark. Duke stood by Lucas’s side as he advised a pair of men on the best way to keep their animals from panicking in the face of the shelling, and shook his head when he was done speaking with them.
“Doesn’t look like they were ready for this, pardner.”
“Yeah. But they’ll figure it out. The shelling’s to soften us up. They can’t physically make it to the canyon quickly, even if they get the vehicles across the bridge. But the artillery…” Lucas’s voice trailed off.
“Any way to stop the big gun?”
“If Richard isn’t responding, not for hours. We don’t have anyone down there other than his group. It’ll take at least three or four to get men on horseback with some AT4s.”
Ruby’s voice called to Lucas from behind him. “Terry’s plane could get you there quickly.”
The men spun to the older woman, who was standing with Terry, eyeing the distant hangar.
“True,” Lucas said. “But there’s no airstrip nearby, is there?”
“Depends on what you mean by airstrip,” Terry said. “There’s a section of Route 30 that’s straight as an arrow. I could probably set down there.”
“Or you could drop napalm on them,” Ruby reminded them. “We made all those bombs. Wouldn’t they work?”
“Not against artillery,” Duke said. “Although…they could make the area around the gun pretty ugly and might detonate some of the shells, which could put it out of commission.”
“That’s probably your best bet,” Terry said. “I set you down in broad daylight, they’re going to hear it and they’ll be waiting for you. Be smartest to wait for nightfall, but if that’s the case, might as well just ride out.” Another shell exploded, this one only three hundred yards from the buildings. “Problem is Richard was the one who was going to drop the napalm. And he isn’t here.” Terry sighed. “Don’t suppose any of you were ever in the military, were you?”
Aaron shrugged. “I was in the Marines for four years. Saw a decent amount of combat.”
“Think you could keep your nerves steady enough to drop some napalm?”
An explosion rocked the valley from off to their right. Aaron squinted at the hangar. “Compared to this, it would be a vacation.”
Terry led them across the compound as the shelling continued. He stopped near the cave entrance and leaned toward Ruby. “You should get below. Where are Eve and Sierra?”
“I’m sure they’re already down in the bunkers.”
“Might want to check to be sure,” Lucas said.
Ruby took the hint. “Okay. Be careful, Terry.”
“Always.”
Ruby made for the entry to the subterranean complex as the men continued to the stables and mounted up. They rode across the field and arrived at the hangar less than ten minutes later. All pitched in to load the glass milk jugs with plastic fins glued to their tops, taking care to handle them gently lest they inadvertently detonate the Armstrong’s mixture affixed to the sides. When they were done, they pushed the plane clear of the hangar, and Terry started the engine, which caught on the third try and settled into a steady hum. Aaron climbed into the back, Duke shook his hand, and then the old Cessna was accelerating down the dirt strip as its prop clawed at the sky.
Ruby found a frantic Sierra in the lower bunker, which was chaotic with frightened children crying at each new explosion. They had both been assigned to work in the field hospital set up to deal with the inevitable wounded, and Sierra was roaming through the oversized rooms with a panicked expression.
“Where’s Eve? Have you seen Eve?” Sierra asked when she spied Ruby.
“No. I thought she’d be with you. She isn’t down here anywhere?”
“I told her to come. She was right behind me, but now I can’t find her.”
Ruby stiffened as a thought struck her. “Where’s Ellie?”
“The pig? How would I know?” Then Sierra gasped as she realized what Ruby was getting at. “You think she went to get it?”
“She loves that animal.”
They made for the stairs that led two stories up to the surface, fighting the crowd coming down. At the top, they could see that the explosions were getting nearer to the compound, although still randomly landing in a relatively large spread.
Sierra’s hand flew to her mouth at the sight of one end of the sleeping quarters in rubble, and then they were sprinting toward it, Sierra screaming Eve’s name over the incessant din from the detonating shells. At the entry, Sierra exhaled in relief at the sight of Eve’s dress
inside, her knees skinned and her torso streaked with dust, cradling Ellie. Sierra ran to the little girl and scooped her into her arms.
“I told you to come with me!” Sierra chided, her tone ragged.
“Ellie was here. But she’s fine. Just scared.”
Ruby tugged on Sierra’s sleeve. “Come on. No telling where the next shell hits.”
They were halfway back to the cave when the sound of an engine roared overhead, and Terry’s plane soared by no more than three hundred feet above their heads, narrowly clearing the tree line at the edge of the valley before disappearing on a circuitous course to reach the convoy from a direction it would least expect.
Chapter 51
The Cessna vibrated alarmingly as it fought for altitude, skewing sideways when it hit a gust of rough air from the north before straightening and continuing on its course, the engine thrumming so loudly that Aaron could barely hear himself think. Terry banked over the trees and set a bearing over the lowest peaks, passing close over them.
Once the little plane was clear of the valley, the earth dropped away, the area surrounding the mountains around Shangri-La three thousand feet lower, and Terry tapped the altimeter and gave Aaron a thumbs-up.
“Eleven thousand feet. That’s about max for this thing running ethanol,” he called out in a loud voice.
“How long until we get there?” Aaron asked.
“Oh, probably no more than fifteen minutes. Want to sneak up on them from the southeast.”
“Won’t they hear us coming?”
“Nobody’s going to be able to hear anything down there if they’re firing that big gun without hearing protection. Plus, the prevailing winds are from the north, so we’ll have that going for us, too.”
“How far above them are we going to be?”
“Couple thousand feet, at least, to stay out of range of their weapons.”
“Sounds like a lot.”
“Nobody said this would be easy. But I’ll slow to almost stall speed, and you can dump a bunch of bombs once you get the hang of it. Do one at a time until you sort of get it down, and then go for broke. Less time we’re over the target, the better, far as I’m concerned.”
The Day After Never Bundle (First 4 novels) Page 69