by Mark Goodwin
Everett fought back the tears. A time for grieving would come, but he had to see the mission through. Everett tore his eyes away from his fallen friend. He stood up and directed the uninjured people to keep moving toward the buses. “Let’s keep going, folks. Get on the buses. Don’t let the deaths of these people be in vain.”
Family members of the fallen lingered by the bodies of their loved ones. A few others helped the injured to the buses.
Ali rushed over. “Oh, Everett, Courtney, I’m so sorry. Sarah was a wonderful person.”
Everett turned to look at Ali. “You’re bleeding. Your arms, your face. Are you okay?”
“It’s only a few scratches. The wall of the gate shielded me from most of the blast and shrapnel.”
The peacekeeper’s radio sounded off. “Zion Gate. What’s your situation? We saw a big explosion coming from your direction.”
Everett growled and pressed the talk button. “We had a suicide car bomb. It detonated outside the gate, but we don’t have any other threats.”
“Was anyone hurt?”
Everett was sure Command would want to talk to the sergeant, so he fed them the best answer he could think of. “The sergeant is down. He’s unresponsive. We need a medical team.”
“I’m dispatching medical and a twenty-man backup team. They’ll be at your location in ten minutes. Just hold tight.”
Everett just wanted to cry, to mourn the loss of his friend, but he couldn’t. And neither could he allow his wife time to process her loss. “Courtney, come on. We’ve gotta get up. Peacekeepers are heading this way. We’ve gotta be ready for them.”
Courtney nodded. She bent down and kissed Sarah on the head, then stood up and steeled herself for the next battle.
Gideon met Everett and the rest of his team inside the gate. Everett walked passed him. “We’ve got twenty peacekeepers heading this way. We can engage them, but as soon as we do, Command will dispatch hundreds more right behind them. I’d say we can hold this position for fifteen, maybe twenty minutes. No more.”
Gideon nodded. “I’ll get the people moving as fast as I can.”
Everett began positioning the available IDF fighters to defend the avenues of approach to the Zion Gate.
CHAPTER 22
And the dragon was wroth with the woman, and went to make war with the remnant of her seed, which keep the commandments of God, and have the testimony of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 12:17
Everett crouched between the city wall and the front bumper of an old Mitsubishi parked on the side of the road. He placed Courtney behind the engine block, which was the only part of the vehicle guaranteed to stop a rifle bullet. Gideon stood with his rifle leveled on top of the car, and Ali positioned his weapon on the trunk. Former Israeli soldiers lined the street using the other parked vehicles for cover, waiting for the GR peacekeepers to arrive.
Everett called out to the soldiers. “Keep yourselves hidden. Don’t fire until all twenty of them are exposed. They’re not expecting to get hit.”
Everett ducked down as he heard the sound of boots against the stone pavement. He held his fist up where Gideon, Courtney, and Ali could see it. He waited anxiously for the platoon to finish rounding the corner to the east. Everett could barely make out the last peacekeeper. He dropped his fist and stood up to commence firing. The Israelis followed his cue and half of the peacekeepers were dead before they knew what hit them. The other ten retreated behind a corner of a building at the end of the street and began returning fire from a distance.
Everett and the others continued firing, holding them back until the remaining Jews could get through the gate.
“Courtney, I want you to go. The buses will need armed escorts to get to Tel Aviv.”
She continued shooting at any peacekeeper who showed his head. “I’m not leaving you, Everett. I’ll submit to anything you say, except that.” She changed magazines and sent another volley of bullets down range.
Gideon paused and turned around to look at the gate. “I think we can all get out of here. That looks like the last of our people leaving now. Any others that wanted to leave have probably been cut off. Hopefully, they’ll have the wisdom to hunker down until they get another opportunity to escape.”
Everett nodded. “Okay. Ali, Courtney, start backing up. Lead the other soldiers to the gate. Send them to the buses, then lay down cover fire for me and Gideon.”
Everett and Gideon continued shooting to give the others time to back out. The peacekeepers advanced as Everett and Gideon moved back to the gate tower.
Ali popped around the side and fired several rounds, allowing Everett and Gideon to reload. “The buses are loaded and moving out.”
Courtney joined with them in firing at the peacekeepers. “Looks like another platoon just showed up.”
“Yeah, we’ve got to get out of here.” Gideon pulled out his keys. “Can you drive a stick?”
“Sure.” Courtney changed magazines.
Gideon passed her the keys. “There’s a Golan, a beige armored vehicle, in the parking lot where the buses were. Pull around to the gate. Blow the horn when you’re at the gate.”
“Roger.” She exited through the gate tower.
“Ali, go with her. And grab our duffles.” Everett fired three more rounds toward the peacekeepers. “Once Gideon and I pull out, they’ll be on us like a swarm of hornets.”
“Okay.” Ali grabbed the bags and followed Courtney.
“Watch that team to the east!” Gideon lay prone and began firing under the vehicles. “They’re trying to flank us!”
“If I turn my back on the ones coming from the west for a second, they’ll be on top of us.” Everett tried to place his rounds, but he wasn’t getting any kill shots. His rifle bolt locked open, and he quickly switched to the pistol on the front of his vest. “I’m almost out of ammo!”
Everett heard Gideon’s bolt lock open. “Me, too.”
BEEEEP!
“That’s our ride! Let’s go!” Gideon tapped Everett as he spun around to run out the gate.
“Right behind you!” Everett emptied his pistol as he backed out of the gate and jumped into the Golan.
“Go! Go! Go!” Gideon shouted his directive to Courtney who smashed the gas pedal while quickly pulling her foot off the clutch, causing the vehicle to jerk forward. Ali held on to the door handle for dear life as the team sped away. Bullets peppered the rear of the vehicle for a few seconds, then ceased.
“Everybody good?” Courtney’s voice sounded distressed.
“I’m okay.” Everett took a few breaths before changing the magazines in his rifle and pistol.
“Yeah, good.” Ali shook the door of the Golan to ensure that it was closed securely.
Gideon also changed his magazine. “No leaks here.”
“Great. Can you tell me how to get to the airport?”
Gideon made his way up to the passenger’s seat. “Follow this road until you get to 60, then head north to 1. Westbound 1 goes directly to Tel Aviv.”
Forty minutes after leaving the parking lot, Gideon directed Courtney to exit the highway.
Pillars of smoke illuminated by the fires burning below rose to the sky on both sides of the highway.
“This doesn’t look good,” Courtney said.
Everett peered out the front windshield to see a bus stopped at the front gate of the airport. Three GR Humvees blocked the entrance. “That’s the bus that left right before we did.”
“The GR must have just now taken control of the gate,” Gideon said.
Everett looked down at his civilian clothes, which he’d changed into on the road. “Should have waited to change.”
“I still look official.” Since Courtney was driving and couldn’t change, she still wore her peacekeeper uniform.
“We can’t talk our way out of this one.” Gideon picked up his rifle from beside his seat. “Besides, that bus is filled with the former IDF soldiers who were fighting with us. No amount of discussion
is going to get them through the gate.”
Courtney slowed the vehicle. “I could ram the GR Hummer. It would create a diversion. Maybe give the IDF guys a chance to get the jump on the peacekeepers.”
“Don’t hit it too fast. We still need the Golan to get us to the tarmac.” Gideon braced himself.
“You know this vehicle better than I do, tell me how fast of an impact you think it can take.”
Gideon shook his head. “The Golan is a much bigger vehicle, but still, it would have to be at least twenty-five kilometers an hour to knock the Humvee clear of our path.”
“Twenty-five it is, then. Everybody hang on tight!”
Everett buckled his seat belt and pulled another M72 rocket from one of the duffles.
SMASH! The vehicle slowed dramatically but kept rolling.
“We made it!” Courtney shouted.
Everett released his seat belt, jumped up to open the top hatch of the Golan and stuck the rocket tube out the roof. He took aim at one of the other Humvees and fired.
BOOOM! The sphere of flame sent the Hummer flipping side over side, crushing five peacekeepers as it rolled.
Everett tossed the spent tube and raised his rifle at the other peacekeepers. In a matter of seconds, the IDF soldiers were pouring out the front and back of the bus and eliminating the rest of the GR troops.
Courtney waited for the IDF troops to get back on the bus and catch up. Courtney led the way to the tarmac. “Looks like some heavy fighting going on at the other end of the airport.”
Everett heard rifle fire and could clearly make out a convoy of MOC technicals engaging with a shrinking number of GR peacekeepers. “As long as they’re keeping each other occupied, we’re okay.”
Tobias’s voice came over Gideon’s radio. “Gideon, is that you in the Golan?”
“Yes. And that is the last bus behind us.”
Tobias came back over the radio. “I’m in the gray C-130. I’ll have the back ramp down. Get in here fast. The Martyrs of the Caliphate are all around the airport.”
Gideon pointed in the direction of the skirmish. “His plane is over there, by the fighting.”
“That’s not great.” Courtney slowed down to let the bus catch up.
Gideon stuck his head out of the top hatch when the bus pulled alongside. “There’s your ride. We’ll create a diversion so you can get boarded.”
Gideon dropped back down and closed the hatch. “I hope that’s okay with everyone.”
“Great,” Ali replied. “I’ve been getting volunteered for stuff since the moment I met these guys.”
“How many more of those rockets do you have?” Gideon looked at Everett.
Everett scratched through the duffle bags. “Four. But maybe MOC and the GR won’t notice us.”
“Too late for that.” Courtney pointed at a tan Maxx Pro flying the black flag of MOC from the whip antenna, flanked by two Toyota technicals, each with a fifty-caliber machine gun mounted in the bed. The three vehicles were racing toward the bus.
“We have to help these guys, Everett. If we don’t do something, those fifties will eat them alive while they're trying to board the plane.” Courtney turned and looked at him with imploring eyes.
He knew she was right. He’d have no trouble doing it himself, but once again, he found himself in the situation of having to approve a suicide mission for his beautiful wife. “Okay. Let us get a couple rockets armed, then start heading right for them.”
Courtney put the Golan in gear. Everett handed a rocket to Gideon, one to Ali, and armed the third for himself. The vehicle raced headlong into the path of the three MOC vehicles. Instantly, the Golan began taking fire from the fifty-cal. Everett popped out of the hatch and aimed toward the grill of the Maxx Pro.
BOOOM! The Maxx Pro teetered and finally fell on its side. Rifle fire struck the metal hatch and whizzed by Everett’s ear. He dropped down into the vehicle, and Gideon replaced him, sticking his missile tube out the hatch.
BOOM! Everett saw one of the Toyota pickup trucks explode into a blazing ball of heat and metal. He took the third rocket from Ali and prepared to pop up in Gideon’s place.
Gideon dropped back into the cabin.
“Good shot!” Everett slapped him on the back as he jumped up to stick his head out of the hatch. Jihadi fighters were coming out of the Maxx Pro, which lay on its side. The vehicle had been incapacitated, but the heavy armor protected the people inside. Every one of them took aim and fired their AK-47s at Everett, forcing him back inside the hatch.
“It’s too hot. I can’t stay out there long enough to take aim.” Everett held the rocket in his hand.
Gideon shouted out instructions. “Courtney, cut left. Ali, you and I will shoot from the gun ports in the side windows. We’ve got to thin these guys out so Everett can take a shot.”
Everett watched as Ali and Gideon exchanged gunfire with the jihadis. Slowly, Gideon and Ali picked them off, but the second technical was circling around the Golan, peppering it with the large gun. The windshield shattered when several fifty-caliber rounds cracked, then penetrated it.
“Courtney, are you okay?” Everett peered around her seat, his heart pounding from the fear of what he might see.
“I’m fine, but it just got harder to drive. You’ve got to take that thing out!”
Everett readied his rocket tube, flung the hatch open, and said a quick prayer. “God, direct this rocket.” He jumped up. Bullets from the AK-47s and the fifty-cal whizzed by his ears. Everett pointed the tube in the general direction of the technical and fired the weapon. He dropped back into the cabin. BOOM!
“Did I hit it?”
“Yes!” Courtney turned the vehicle around and hurtled toward the military cargo plane.
“Don’t count the chicken!” Ali warned.
“Did anyone ever tell you that you’re a pessimist, Ali?” Courtney said.
Everett wanted to celebrate as well, but he knew there was wisdom in Ali’s caveat.
Tobias’ voice came over the radio. “We have to take off now. Six MOC vehicles just breached the northwest runway. And four more are coming from the private jet tarmac to our right.”
Everett saw the plane taxi to the runway.
“I told you . . .” Ali started.
Courtney cut him off. “I know, I know, don’t count the chicken when he’s in the eggs.”
“We’ve got one rocket left,” Everett said.
“And no planes,” Gideon added. “Courtney, follow the C-130.” Gideon pressed his talk key. “Tobias, leave the back ramp down. We’ll drive right in. We’ve still got one rocket to knock out the technicals coming out of the private tarmac.”
“If I slow down, we’ll never get past the MRAPs coming out of the northwest.”
“Hopefully, you won’t have to.” Gideon looked at Everett. “Make that rocket count. Courtney, push the skinny pedal on the right.”
The Golan sped toward the runway. Everett armed his last rocket, took a deep breath, and lunged out of the hatch. A military Humvee, most likely stolen from US forces in Syria or Iraq, flew a black flag and had a fifty-cal mounted in the rear. It was the lead vehicle coming from the private jet tarmac. Bullets flew by Everett’s head in one direction, and heavy wind from the high speed of the Golan breezed by from the other. He leveled the launch tube and deployed the rocket. It struck just in front of the Humvee and exploded on the runway. But the Hummer lost control, swerving back and forth, and eventually flipping over and landing upside down. The small pickup truck directly behind the Hummer hit the blast of the rocket and flipped on its side. The third vehicle crashed into the pickup, and the forth smashed into the side of the upside-down Humvee.
Everett flung the tube out onto the runway and fell back into the cabin, closing the hatch behind him. From the side window, he could see the cargo bay of the C-130 only a few feet away.
“Hang on. I’ve never done this before.” Courtney called out as she gunned the engine.
The Golan jumped
up onto the fast-moving ramp of the C-130, then Courtney slammed on the brakes. The vehicle skidded to a halt inside the cargo bay of the C-130.
Gideon’s face was white as he hit the talk key of his radio. “We’re in.”
Everett could see out the rear opening of the cargo bay as the runway began to fall away beneath them. Gunfire rang out from below.
Tobias’ voice called out over the radio. “We’re still taking fire. Keep your seat belts on.”
Tink. Tink. TINK, TINK, TINK. Everett heard bullets hitting the belly and wings of the aircraft. A large explosion detonated and the plane pitched hard to the right. Everett’s life flashed before his eyes. The distinctive sounds of a stalling plane and failing engines filled the bay of the giant aircraft.
Tobias’ voice was distorted by static over the radio. “RPG just took out one of the left engines. Hang on, people.”
Everett closed his eyes and began to pray, to beg God, to plead that He would not let them die like this. Of all the ways there was to leave this world, a plane crash had always ranked among the lowest on Everett’s list.
Finally, the plane leveled out. But only for a second. A second blast just like the first rocked the cargo bay of the plane as it yawed and rolled to the right. Everett felt sure it was a second RPG.
Gideon called Tobias on the radio. “What’s the situation?”
The radio was silent. The plane shook and rocked for what seemed like several minutes to Everett. But finally, it leveled back out.
Tobias eventually responded, the radio still staticky. “We lost two engines, but we’ve still got two. We’re already up, so we should be good. What’s better is that we’re over the Mediterranean and out of range of GR and MOC fighters on shore. We’ll have to fly over Turkey to get to the Black Sea, but aside from the coasts, most of the areas we’ll be over are fairly remote.”
Ali unbuckled his seat belt and stood up in the rear of the Golan. “I believe it, Everett.”