Letting out a relieved sigh, Gene said, “Thank you, Bruce.”
“Why is Fredrick driving right through his line now, heading to us?” Bruce asked.
Not surprised about anything now, Gene pressed the transmit button. “Guess he doesn’t want to take the chance shit monkey will fuck something up.”
“How long till you get to that asshole?”
Leaning over and looking out the window up at the sky, Gene asked, “You can’t see me?”
“Ah, I used all my missiles and hand to send my Reapers back to get rearmed, and the other UAVs are keeping over watch on the wounded for air evac.”
“Bruce, how many missiles did you fire?”
“All I had,” Bruce shot back.
“How many?”
“Thirty-two.”
“You knocked out thirty-two vehicles?”
“Ah no, thirty-three. One of your boys popped off a Stinger and wounded one of my birds, and I told the controller to kamikaze a Hummer.”
Startled to say the least, “You ran a UAV into a Hummer?” Gene asked not believing what he was saying or hearing.
“Well, it was going to crash anyway,” Bruce said. “Hey, I see you now.”
Spellbound, Gene looked at the destruction around him as his com officer called on the radio, “Colonel, I’m getting encoded traffic on a radio frequency. You want me to jam or triangulate?”
Gene grabbed the other radio. “No,” he said, still looking at the destruction.
“You sure, sir?”
Martin leaned forward, taking the microphone from Gene. “Henderson, it’s Martin. You even try that, and I will rape your ass tonight after I coat my dick in ground up glass; you hear me? They are already pissed off. Look around you. Call back, and tell Scotty if he so much as turns on a Stinger, he will know if I can shove it up his ass!” he yelled.
“Yes, Sergeant,” Henderson replied as Martin handed back the handset.
“I like that Martin. I want him on Omega, Gene,” they heard over the radio as Gene lifted a handset, still looking at the destruction.
Grabbing Gene’s hand, Martin said, “Not that one sir.” He took the handset for the troops out of Gene’s hand and gave him the other one.
“That would’ve been wired calling Bruce on our net,” Gene said as the other guys started high-fiving Martin.
“Hey, Bruce, just to let you know, Martin is sitting in my Hummer with me. I kinda let the cat out of the bag,” Gene said.
“That’s the platoon sergeant with no neck?” Bruce asked, and everyone became quiet.
Gene laughed. “That’s the one along with my porn buddies,” he said.
“Martin, you guarded Hammer well. You and your boys have a place on Omega but only if your dicks touch the ground. We do have standards,” Bruce said, and Gene fell over against the door laughing.
“Give me that mic,” Martin said. “This is Martin; my handle is Conan. All my boys pack heavy. Even after we wrap it around our leg three times, it still drags the ground.”
“Oh, hell yeah. You’re on Omega,” Bruce said as Martin handed the mic back.
“Bruce, I’m heading to third regiment’s area then back to Givens. We push our table up, okay?”
“Hey, dude, we were sitting here playing video games till your damn general fucked everything up,” Bruce said. “Now, I have troops moving to forward deployment areas.”
“I’m sorry, Bruce. And Bruce, don’t you think you went a little overboard here?” Gene asked, seeing the tail of a UAV sticking straight up out of a destroyed Hummer.
“Gene, that compound you just passed has four hundred plus, and over a hundred are kids. They survived blues and gangs. I’d be damned if I was letting Givens kill them. If your boys don’t have the balls to pop a cap in his ass, that’s not my fault. We have been fighting the war. I was getting ready to call in heavy air.”
“Understand, Bruce, and it was the right call,” Gene said.
“Can’t you let third regiment sit up and just go to Givens?” Bruce asked.
“Bruce, third is led by a major who has trouble tying his boots. If I leave him, he will bump into your line. I really want to keep casualties down.”
“You’re right. Stay safe, and my choppers are out heading to your boys.”
“Those are your troops, Bruce, just like we will be before long,” Gene said. “Stay safe. I’m out.” Gene looked around the Hummer, at everyone looking at him in awe.
Martin shook his head. “Sir, I’m really fighting the urge to pop you in the head. Me and the boys have been trying to figure out how we could knock you out and tie you up so we could join up with Omega. All this time, you were with them,” he said.
“Tie me up?” Gene asked.
“Yes sir. We couldn’t leave you here because it’s no secret that Givens wants to kill you along with several in Homeland. They don’t mind killing; that’s why Givens has the job. We all know they killed General Center.”
“Oh, I know. Bruce sent me their e-mails. They own that base,” Gene said.
“You could’ve told us sir,” Martin said.
“I had to be sure, and when we finish here, we have to join Omega and Gamma in the war fast, but I will fill you in on that later.”
“How in the hell do you know Bruce, sir?” Martin asked.
“Martin, when you were at Benning, did you hear of Dark Knight?”
Shaking his head, chuckling, he said, “Shit not many wearing the tab haven’t heard of him.”
“Bruce is Dark Knight, and I was his LT for four years.”
“No fucking way!”
Gene started laughing. “Oh yeah. That man aged me twenty years in those four he was under me.”
Martin leaned forward. “Is he really married to both Angela and Stephanie? We hooked up a dish and watched a broadcast last week,” he asked.
“Pretty, ain’t they?” Gene said. “And yes, he’s married to them both, and they are both pregnant now,” Gene said.
“You’ve seen and talked to them?” Martin asked.
“Yeah, I talked to them on my computer many times,” Gene said and sighed. “But the light of his life is dead. He lost his wife in an attack by a gang. Now that was a woman. Angela and Stephanie are doing a good job taking care of him now. Bruce has a tendency to go ballistic in the stupid shit area.”
“Sir, those stories can’t all be true,” Martin said.
“No, they’re embellished a lot now, but they really happened.”
They all just looked at each other. “Sir, you going to join Omega with us?” Martin asked.
“I’ll fight wherever Bruce tells me to,” Gene answered and started laying out how Bruce contacted him and the plan to get the families out.
Bruce was watching the screens as Omega redeployed further out in case Givens attacked. They had moved out after Fredrick was led through their lines, going to Hope. The center of his line was at Plain Dealing with a platoon there, and the others spread out. Just as they finished setting up, he watched in horror as second regiment overshot their line.
Just as he was about to start an artillery strike, they stopped at the town of Bradley, Arkansas. They were now thirteen miles from his line, ten miles closer to him than they were supposed to be. Bruce was getting ready to pull his troops back when radar started picking up the micro UAVs. He told everyone to stay put because they were inside the government’s artillery now.
Looking at the screens around him, Bruce made sure all their artillery was marked for death if they so much as sneezed and radioed his troops to stay under cover. When he heard Gene come over the air and tell them not to turn any radar on until he got there, Bruce relaxed. He watched them for an hour, spreading out their line, and behind them, the headquarter element spread out and started working on the wounded. Seeing all the wounded, Bruce s
tarted to feel guilty for raining down so many Hellfires.
“Sir, we have vehicles heading toward Plain Dealing!” one of the technicians yelled at him.
“Light them up!” Bruce yelled.
“Sir, they will be there before we get lock!” Bruce moved over behind him and watched the line of vehicles speed down the road, reaching the outside of Plain Dealing in four minutes.
Bruce keyed his mic. “Omega, we have enemy in Plain Dealing.”
“No shit, Dad, we see them,” Jake shot back.
Bruce broke out in a cold sweat when he head Jake’s voice. “Son, you’re supposed to be to the east.”
“Well our positions for our rigs weren’t completed, Dad, so we had to hide our rigs here, and we were getting ready to move on foot to our bunkers when we heard motors coming.”
“Jake, it looks like a company-sized element. Is that about what you get?” Bruce asked, trying to calm down.
“Yeah, and if this is keeping our distance, you tell Gene I’m kicking his ass.”
“You might have to stand in line, son.” Bruce watched the vehicles stop inside of Plain Dealing. Then, Bruce saw more vehicles move out toward other areas of his line.
“Willie, get ready to engage and pull back,” Bruce called over the radio.
“Ah, Bruce, that’s good for you to say, but they are bigger than we are. If we pull back, I’m going to have to do it under fire and take a lot of casualties.”
“Scramble the Apaches!” Bruce yelled.
Jake came over the radio. “Dad, I’m fixing to engage. They are getting too close and have numbers.”
“Jake, they are four times your size, son.”
“Yeah, and if they get closer, they will just be able to overrun me.”
“Mike, are you seeing this?” Bruce asked.
“Yes, Bruce,” Mike answered.
“Run this, and use the artillery and Hellfires. I have the Apaches en route,” Bruce said, heading toward the door.
“Damn it, Bruce, second and third regiment is starting to move down,” Mike shot back.
“Shove it, Mike,” Bruce yelled. “Jake, before you start, call for artillery on their forward position so they can’t reinforce,” Bruce said, climbing into a Hummer and getting behind the mini gun. “Driver, get me to Plain Dealing now!” Bruce screamed.
“Sir, it’s ten miles away,” the driver said, pulling out and throwing up rocks and dirt.
“Go really fucking fast!” Bruce screamed.
In an old, brick building, Jake was on the upper floor, looking out over the street. The troops were within a hundred yards. “Matt, you and Danny get ready to take out the four Strykers with the Javelins. Everyone with an AT-4, go for the Hummers. When the artillery hits, open up, and don’t stop.”
“This is first platoon. Need artillery on their forward elements now. Mortars, drop right at the edge of town, and don’t stop till I tell you,” he said, bringing his rifle up to his shoulder. Behind him, off in the distance, he heard the MRLS and mortars, and so did the enemy. They started dropping down and moving away from their vehicles faster toward the shelter of the buildings.
When the first shell hit, first platoon opened up. Fifty troops died instantly as Danny and Matt shot off the Javelins from the roof of the building Jake was in. One of the Strykers saw them and opened up with the Mk-19, throwing grenades.
As the first ones hit the roof, the Javelin hit it, blowing it up, but the grenades impacted the side of the roof, throwing Danny and Matt back. All the air in Matt’s lungs left his body as something hit him in the chest. As he crashed against the roof, he heard Danny yell. Rolling over, he saw her right arm covered in blood then saw blood on her face. Crawling over to her, he grabbed her. “Are you okay?” he yelled.
“Fuck no. That son of bitch shot me!” she yelled, pulling a grenade off with her left hand and threw it off the roof.
Matt threw two more and keyed his radio. “Jake, Danny’s hit,” he yelled.
“Get her to the street. I have two down here. Will meet you there,” Jake replied.
Matt tried to look at Danny’s arm, but she stopped him, hearing an AT4 launch beneath them. “Look at it later; let’s get the fuck out of here! Jake only had two AT4s!” she screamed, grabbing her rifle and hearing another AT4 launch. Matt lifted her up and moved to the stairs. Gripping his rifle, Matt let Danny move down the stairs, and he noticed she wasn’t moving her right arm, and there was more blood dripping from it. When they reached the bottom, they saw Buffy run out the side door heading toward the front of the building. Ripping a grenade off her vest, Buffy threw it around the corner and ducked back as bullets hit the corner, sending brick chips flying.
“Matt, I have my wounded at the top of the stairs. Come help me get them down!” Jake yelled over the radio. Using her good arm to hold her rifle, Danny ran up to Buffy, and they started firing around the corner. Matt ran inside, heading upstairs. He saw two wounded at the top of the stairs and Jake and Mary firing out the window. Grabbing one of the wounded, Matt yelled, “Jake, let’s go!” He lifted a wounded woman over his shoulder and glanced at Jake before turning and running down the stairs. He looked up to see Jake pick up the other woman and him and Mary coming down. An explosion hit behind them that threw Jake, Mary and the wounded woman down the stairs on top of Matt.
Outside, Danny and Buffy were firing at the advancing troops, using all their grenades to buy time for Jake, Matt, and Mary. “Jake, move your ass. These assholes really want this building!” Danny yelled over the radio and changed magazines. With only one hand, it was quite challenging, and she was not in the mood for a challenge.
“Some cocksucker tried to blow us up!” Jake called back.
“Yeah, he shot an AT-4, but Buffy dropped him. Now, come on; we can’t last much longer!” She leaned out, firing. From behind a smoking Hummer, Danny saw a green sphere flying through the air at her. “Oh shit,” she moaned.
Buffy was shooting at anything that was moving and even a few bodies that weren’t. Seeing two men running toward her, she aimed and squeezed, hearing Danny tell Jake to move it as both men dropped, screaming. When she heard Danny say “Oh shit,” Buffy looked up and saw the grenade flying toward them.
She watched it hit the ground in front of her bouncing, and yelled, “Grenade!” as she jumped back, hitting Danny in the chest with her back, knocking Danny behind the corner with her as the grenade exploded.
Jake and Matt stepped outside just as the grenade exploded and saw Danny and Buffy fall back, crashing hard on the sidewalk. “Danny!” Matt screamed and ran to her.
“Danny and Buffy are down. Half the platoon is wounded or dead. First platoon is staying in place! No surrender; kill everything!” Jake yelled on the radio as he ran behind Matt toward Danny and Buffy. He saw Danny’s right arm was a bloody mess, and Buffy had blood on her left hip, and her pants were starting to soak through with blood. Both had their eyes open, but their eyes were rolled back.
Grabbing a grenade off his vest, he pulled the pin and threw it behind a burning Hummer then saw a line of troops moving toward them, stepping over a lot of bodies. Well, it took a bunch of them to take us out, Jake thought as he pulled his rifle up to his shoulder, sighting in on one. Then, a stream of red cut the line of troops coming at them in half.
Jumping back, Jake turned and saw his dad coming at them, firing a mini gun out of the top of a Hummer. Jake spun back around the corner. “Oh yeah, y’all fucked up now, my Dad is here!” he yelled as he shot two men trying to retreat. The Hummer stopped in front of them, and Bruce jumped out and ran over to them.
He saw Danny and Buffy laying down, not moving, and Matt and Jake were covered in blood, and he didn’t see Mary. The once suppressed rage filled his body as Bruce spun around and charged the line of attacking troops, screaming. His life meant nothing now as the wave filled his being. Coming
around the burning Hummer, he saw a pile of wounded soldiers and started shooting all of them then rushed forward. Ignoring the pleas, Bruce shot anything not Omega.
Matt and Jake took off after him to join in the killing. How many they killed they didn’t know, but it didn’t matter. Not finding any more, they ran back to the corner of the building. As they reached the girls, all through the distance, the sound of war raged on.
Chapter 14
Gene was walking the major around, showing him where to deploy, when to the west, he heard thunderous explosions and felt the ground shake under his feet. “What the hell is that?” the major asked.
“War,” Gene said, running to the command track. “What the hell is going on?” he yelled.
“The general ordered a probing attack to the front, and they hit heavy resistance. Then, Omega dumped rockets and artillery on our forward edge. Next, they brought down Hellfires, taking out the Patriots that they missed and all the MRLSes. The casualties are in the hundreds so far. They strobed their radar and saw planes coming in from Shreveport; then, they lost the radar. All of our micro UAVs suddenly just dropped. We think they jammed the frequencies. Then, we lost one of our main UAVs, and we pulled the other one back,” Henderson said.
Gene grabbed the handset from Henderson. “This is Colonel Walker. All units, pull back to scrimmage line now. Any unit not pulling back will be hit by friendly artillery!”
“This is General Givens; you will ignore that order and continue contact!” Givens yelled.
“General, shut the fuck up, or I will drop some artillery rounds on you. All units, you have three minutes before impact. The enemy is calling in massive air, and we have no long-range air cover, only short-range. You will be wiped out by them or us if you don’t pull back now. General, I’m on my way, bitch!” Gene shouted.
Martin ran over to him, carrying his shoulder bag. “Sir, Mike wants to talk to you,” he said in a hushed voice.
Gene looked at the major. “If you follow anyone’s order but mine, I’ll kill; do you hear me?” Gene said.
Blue Plague: War (Blue Plague Book 6) Page 19