They weren’t trying to break through here. Their real objective was to tie down Hydra forces in the city so they couldn’t respond to other attack across the line. And that could only mean the main axis of their advance would come in one place…
“I hope you’re ready Danny,” she muttered to herself.
If he wasn’t then there was nothing she could do about it. This might not be their main objective, but Ragnarok would certainly take advantage if they saw weakness.
She had to make sure that didn’t happen.
23
SUICIDE SQUAD
Even miles away through the filter of his cybernetic radio, Danny could tell the battle around the river wasn’t going well. From his position in the back of his transport helicopter’s troop compartment he listened to the radio chatter coming from Sacred Sword. Almost none of it sounded good.
At first radio communications had gone completely dead, likely from another jamming device. Unlike in Milwaukee, the forces at this end didn’t have the time or resources to create telephone connections between units, instead relying on foot messengers and the temporary nature of the jammer. But even though it lasted only thirty minutes, that was still enough time to cause havoc.
Danny didn’t know how they had managed to do so, but the enemy was already across the river and pushing deep into defenses. Morgan’s instincts had been correct. If they had concentrated all their troops at the river Ragnarok would have broken through and would be currently defeating them in detail.
Morgan’s preparations forced them to fight for every inch of ground in the forest. Anything along the main pathways was a deathtrap, forcing the attackers to either take massive casualties or find alternate routes through the dense brush. Ragnarok chose the second option, but that also caused severe delays.
And the number and depth of the defenses helped significantly as well, Danny realized as he listened. Any time a unit was about to be overwhelmed or crushed they would withdraw to the next position, preserving their numbers while inflicting more and more losses on the enemy. One or two cuts might not kill, but a dozen, a score, a hundred could bring down even the most formidable foes.
But the situation on the ground still sounded grim. The enemy was somehow pouring droves of reinforcements over the river, hitting Sacred Sword with relentless attacks. Danny heard several units reporting significant numbers of casualties, and a cursory survey of his wrist menu map showed Ragnarok forces deep into the forest. Gio’s platoon still held their positions on the river, but Morgan and Staci’s units had been forced back.
Sacred Sword definitely needed backup, and they were it. Danny had Bravo Wolf Platoon mounted in three Typhoons, along with six Hornets armed with miniguns and rockets. Their attack helicopters could provide heavy firepower where it was needed. It was a good thing too, because the platoon itself only had around twenty five members in total.
They needed to be careful. Danny couldn’t afford to waste his troops, the last reserve that could reach the battlefield quickly. No, he needed to place them carefully, where they would do the most good, and to do that he needed good information.
He cut the open channel and signaled Sacred Sword Command. “Sword Lead, Sword Lead, this is Bravo Wolf. Please respond. I say again, Sword Lead, Sword Lead this is Bravo Wolf. Please respond.”
Nothing. Danny tried again to no avail.
“David’s not responding?” Xavier asked from beside him.
Danny shook his head. “I’ve got nothing.”
“Mm.” Xavier glanced out of the open side door of the helo. “This might end up being a rough one.”
“Jeeze, you think?”
Danny tried again and got no response. He was about to switch channels to try to raise Morgan when a voice crackled over the radio.
“Bravo Wolf, this is Sword Lead.”
Danny perked up and responded. “I hear you, Sword Lead.”
“Good. Sorry about the delay. It’s pretty hairy down here.”
“No problem. We’re on our way, bringing the air cavalry reserve.” Danny glanced at his wrist menu map and timer. “ETA is three minutes. We’ll drop as close to the front lines as possible and move to reinforce wherever you need.”
“Negative,” David told him. “We’re getting forced back, and you’re not going to be enough to stabilize the line. They’re pouring troops across the river?”
“How’d they get across?”
“They sent commando teams in assault boats, but once they secured a small part of the shore their combat engineers set up a pontoon bridge with boats and lumber within ten minutes,” David explained.
“Ten minutes?” Danny asked incredulously. “How’d they manage to get a pontoon bridge built that fast?”
“It’s not exactly the most solid thing, just a bunch of boats connected together with pairs of boards. They’re not going to be lugging anything heavy over it, but it’s enough to get infantry across.”
“Can you mortar it?”
“They figured out where it was and hit it with counterbattery fire of their own,” David told him. “The survivors had to scatter.”
This just kept getting better and better, Danny thought to himself. The real questions was, what could they do about it?
“Can we hit them with a strafing run with the gunships?” he asked.
“I wouldn’t try that. They have several antiaircraft guns on the other side of the river. That’s what helped them force their way across.”
Danny could imagine the carnage that those kind of weapons caused, capable of shredding aircraft, cover and flesh with equally frightful efficiency. He knew their gunships couldn’t take much punishment, and with their artillery gone they needed them to serve as an equalizer.
“Great,” he said. “That means we’re going in on foot, isn’t it?”
“Yeah, that’s the only option I can see at the moment,” David said apologetically. “Sorry about sending you guys on a suicide mission.”
“Heh, I think pretty much everything we do qualifies as a crazy suicide mission,” Danny said. “That seems to be our company’s calling card.”
David laughed at the other end. “Good thing we have you along, then.”
“Do you need support?” Danny asked. “I’ll keep two of the gunships and send the other four your way.”
“If you can spare them, we can use them,” David told him.
“I’ll send them your way then. Bravo Wolf out.” Danny switched channels. “Blake, Sacred Sword needs help. Pick one of your flight to stay with you. Deploy the rest under a separate callsign to support Sacred Sword.”
“Got it. I assume we’re going with you?”
“You assume correctly. Be advised that there’s antiaircraft guns by the river. Try not to stray over them.”
“Don’t plan on it. Thanks.”
Danny switch channels again. “David, I’m seeing a smaller concentration of enemy forces on the eastern edge. Can we land there?”
“That’ll land you fairly close to the pontoon bridge. If you can find a spot, that is,” David replied. “The forest is pretty thick there.”
Maybe, Danny thought as he looked over the map in his wrist menu, but there had to be somewhere they could deploy, even if it wasn’t a wide open expanse. But what could they use? Like David said, most of the terrain was either trees or thick brush. Spots they could have used with transport Hornets were too small to fit Typhoons. If only…
“There,” Xavier said, looking over his own wrist menu.
“What?”
“You wanted a landing spot, right?”
“We’re you listening in?”
Xavier shook his head. “You’re sitting right next to me. It’s pretty easy to listen in.”
Danny had to laugh. In the confusion of the lead-up to battle he had missed the extremely obvious fact in front of him.
“So, what have you got?”
Xavier shifted his wrist so he could get a better view. “Right there, about a quar
ter mile south of the river. It’s probably only big enough for one at a time, but that’s going to be the best we can do.”
Danny nodded. They didn’t have enough time to fight their way through a mile or more of heavily forested terrain against overwhelming odds. Bravo Wolf had to stem the tide here and now.
He opened up a channel to the pilots and squad leaders. “All units, we’re headed for this landing area,” Danny explained, sending them all a marked copy of the map. “Once there we’ll disembark and head for an enemy pontoon bridge on the river, located here.”
“That’s going to be a tough one,” Blake said. “You’re only going to be able to fit one Typhoon in there at a time, and the clearance is only about ten to fifteen feet.”
“Can you do it?” Danny asked.
He heard a series of laughs over the radio link.
“Can we do it, he says,” an unfamiliar voice chuckled.
“It’s extremely difficult. Luckily you have us along, so we’re good,” Blake told him. “If I can make one suggestion, though?”
“Yeah?”
“You only get to ask us for this kind of thing once. Next time, learn to rappel.”
“I’ll keep that in mind,” Danny said with a grin.
“That’d be a useful skill to have anyhow,” Xavier said beside him.
It would, but they’d have to file that thought away for later. Right now they needed to concentrate on the fight looming ahead of them. Danny paused for a moment, then opened the channel up to the entire unit.
“Listen up everyone. We’ve been given our marching orders. Ragnarok has a pontoon bridge across the river and is using it to flood the area with reinforcements. Our job is to land and destroy it in order to stop that flow.”
He paused again to gather his words. “Bear in mind that we’re the last available reinforcements. If we can’t stop them then this entire flank is screwed, and we might have our entire army cut off here in the north.”
“We won’t let that happen,” Javy spoke up. Several others echoed that sentiment.
Danny nodded in appreciation. “No, we won’t. Not if we fight like I know we’re capable of. Everyone, the destruction of that pontoon bridge is our top priority. Use everything and anything to do it. Don’t worry about ammunition consumption or casualties. Just go for the bridge.”
“If you can neutralize some of the AA guns around the river we can provide closer support,” Blake cut in.
“Keep that in mind, but the top priority is the bridge,” Danny told them.
“One minute to drop zone,” Brooke announced from her seat in the front of the helo.
Danny made the final preparations. “My bird goes in first, followed by Javy and then Ryan. Get off, get into the forest and head for the objective. Hit them hard and fast and don’t give them the time to recover. Understood?”
“Aye!” came the reply from over two dozen voices.
“Here goes nothing,” Xavier commented beside him. “You ready for some real action again, or have you gotten too fond of sitting behind the front line at headquarters?”
“Heh, as if.”
“Just saying. Wouldn’t want you to fall behind or anything.”
Danny grinned back. “Oh, just watch me. I’ll probably have to drag you out of the fire at least once.”
“Hm, that’ll be fun to watch.”
Xavier’s commented broke the tension a bit and helped Danny to focus. He felt the energy crackling all around him. Even outnumbered and in dire straits, he didn’t think they could lose. There was just something about him that made him believe that, no matter how stupid it might sound.
They’d pull through against the odds. Was it foolish, especially against the elite troops that they were certain to face out there? Maybe, but that didn’t faze him the slightest bit. What was the point of being in this world if they didn’t take on the challenges it offered?
“Thirty seconds to drop zone.”
Danny checked his weapons one last time, preparing for the inevitable brawl that would follow. As usual he had his trusty machine gun, with his harness laden down with extra ammunition and grenades.
Bravo Wolf had a pair of recoilless rifles in Bravo 2 and Bravo 3, which Danny hoped to use against the pontoon bridge and then the antiaircraft guns, if they got the chance. Even heavily-built objects wouldn’t stand a chance against one of those shells.
“Twenty seconds.”
Danny braced himself for the reception on the ground. Would they have a smooth landing, or would they meet heavy resistance?
“Ten seconds.”
He got on the radio. “Troops with flamethrowers, you need to be out in front to help clear a path through the brush. Everyone else, protect them and the heavy weapons teams. They’re going to be critical.”
Brooke came on the line. “We’re over the landing zone. Headed in now.”
Danny watched the trees close in around them as the helicopter descended into the clear, almost at arm’s length. Blake hadn’t been kidding when he said they had little room to maneuver here.
Bravo 1 was already on their feet when the skids hit the ground.
Danny leaped down onto solid earth, followed by Xavier and then the rest of the squad. They quickly pushed into the forest as their transport lifted away, sticking to one of the paths for faster movement. It was a gamble, he knew, but speed was of the essence. The ability to perform a rapid advance definitely outweighed the potential of being ambushed and pinned down. Besides, that would require the enemy to know they were here.
“We’re landed,” Javy reported over the radio.
“Good. Follow the path. It’s clear on our end,” Danny ordered. He could hear the sounds of a fierce firefight wafting toward them from the south. They needed to hurry.
“Pick up the pace,” he urged the squad over the radio.
“Not too fast, mind you,” Xavier cut in. “We don’t want to lose all sense of awareness and blunder into an ambush. Or make a wrong turn, for that matter.”
“Right,” Danny said, opening his wrist menu and bringing up the map application. “Head north about a hundred yards from here. There should be overgrowth in the way, so let’s clear it out with the flamethrower.”
“Got it,” Joe said. “I’m right behind you.”
But once they reached their turn Danny saw that the brush had already been burned away. That meant Ragnarok had used it as an avenue of advance. And that also might mean…
“Contact at ten!” Xavier said over the link.
Danny hit the ground just as bullets started whipping over his head. He landed on the hard path, searching for targets. Nothing, not in this dense maze of brush and trees.
But out here he was completely exposed, and if he didn’t move he’d be dead within thirty seconds. He couldn’t see the enemy, but that probably didn’t cut both ways.
“Bravo 1, get into cover,” Xavier said calmly over the radio.
Danny crawled toward one of the trees in the area of burnt-out brush, desperately hoping a stray bullet didn’t find him. They were so close to the bridge, oh so very close, and now their window of opportunity might be shutting right before their eyes.
He took shelter behind a particularly thick stump and sighted his machine gun. Danny couldn’t see anything but muzzle flashes coming from the southwest, but that was enough for now. He squeezed the trigger and fired tight bursts at the enemy force, trying to suppress them enough to allow the rest of his troops to reach cover.
“Bravo 2, how close are you to my position?” he called over the radio.
“About fifty yards. We hear gunfire. Are you engaged?” Javy asked.
Danny fired off a long burst before replying. “We’re engaged and pinned down. No way we’re getting to the bridge in time, but this is our best pathway.”
“What do you want us to do?”
Only one thing to do, Danny thought to himself. “Head for our position and leapfrog us. We’ll cover you. Ryan, you listening to this?”
“I am.”
“Do the same. If you run into resistance, Bravo 2 holds position while Bravo 3 leapfrogs. We’ll try to follow once we’re past, but if we can’t then we’ll provide the rearguard.”
“Understood,” Javy replied.
“Make sure you get the bridge,” he insisted.
“Wouldn’t dream of anything else,” Ryan said.
“Leaving it all on us, huh?” Javy replied flippantly. “Guess I can play the hero and bail you out of the fire.”
That brought a smile to Danny’s face despite the situation. “Oh please. Just move.”
More gunfire interrupted him before he could say anything else. Bullets tore into the trees all around them, tearing out chunks of wood and bark and showering him with splinters. Danny considered it a minor miracle that despite the intensity of the enemy fire, none of them had been hit yet.
“Danny, I think I have an I.D. on them,” Xavier said over the radio. Danny could see him firing his assault rifle out of the corner of his eye.
“What have you got?”
“Their unit patch through my scope,” Xavier replied flatly. “It’s Ymir.”
Danny gritted his teeth. Just what they needed right now, a confrontation with one of Ragnarok’s best infantry units.
“Doesn’t matter,” he said. “Keep pouring it on them and cover the rest of the platoon.”
He focused his aim down the sights and started firing again. For a second Danny though he might be scoring hits, because the muzzle flashes died away.
But then an entire sheet of smoke and flame sprang out from the enemy position. Danny barely had time to register what was happening before the world exploded around him.
The first blast ripped a huge chunk out of the tree to his right, sending splinters and massive woodchips flying in every direction. One smashed into the tree he was using for cover, missing his head by mere inches and showering him with fragments. It took a split-second for Danny to realize what was happening, but when he did he scrambled to find a new hiding spot. By chance he stumbled across a shallow divot in the earth and leaped inside.
Just in time, too, because the tree he was previously using as cover suddenly blew apart under the weight of two explosions. Another streak of smoke and flame whipped overhead, impacting into the trees behind them and showering the area with deadly fragments. Danny could see several troops on his HUD in need of medical attention, but he couldn’t do anything about that right now.
Deception City: A World at War Novel (World at War Online Book 5) Page 25