While Templeton and his friends celebrated his promotion, at ASGuard HQ, General Roman pulled a special cellphone from his pocket. "Ken, Titus! We need some help," he said to Colonel Ken Halsted when the call connected. "Marcus and Templeton think a major attack is brewing across from Sasabe. Yeah, I think they're on to something...but something else is bothering me about the whole thing. We need satellite and UAV full spectrum intel south of Sasabe ASAP." Titus paused for a moment. "Hey Ken, let's make that along the entire border. Yeah, it'll take a little longer but sometimes the macro picture is more important than the micro. Thanks, Ken!" Titus ended the call. He pulled up a map of the border region on his large wall display and walked over to it. Something didn't feel right. Now if I could just put my finger on what that is, he thought.
While they waited for their intel to arrive, Major Marcus Roman and his personnel set about preparing for the worst. All vehicles and equipment were checked and double checked. Forward positions were fortified and Marcus drew upon additional personnel to reinforce them. Marcus drove over to the Border Patrol and National Guard command posts and spoke with their unit commanders. They set about getting their personnel and equipment prepared.
Marcus then called upon the Sasabe mayor, town council members, and sheriff's office to warn them of the danger and encourage them to evacuate north to safer ground. They promised to contact the citizens of Sasabe and warn them but to a person they refused to leave their town. The sheriff contacted the Arizona Highway Patrol and the sheriffs of counties north of Pima County to request additional support for the town.
Back at the ASGuard compound, additional ammo, water, and rations were being issued to all personnel. Major Roman found LT Teresa Roman stuffing medical supplies into jump bags to be passed out to each unit to supplement their existing first aid supplies. Marcus knew that Teresa and the other medical personnel would be spread out throughout the line, prepared to render aid to injured personnel at a moment's notice. The young couple took a moment to hold hands and share a kiss before returning to duty. As he left, Marcus called out, "Keep your butt down this time, Lieutenant!" Laughter rippled through the medical section. Teresa blushed then joined in the laughter.
Then came hurry up and wait...the bane of all military existence. Roman's Legion, Unit Four of the Arizona State Guard, was trained, equipped, and ready for battle. Locked, cocked, and ready to rock...but now they had to wait for the action to begin. It would help to know exactly what we face and when, thought many of the ASGuard troops.
Several hours later, Marcus and Templeton were called to the command post. Major General Roman was starting a video conference with all ASGuard commanders. The general's image was awaiting them on the primary monitor when they entered the room.
"Yes sir, what do you have for us?" Marcus asked his father.
"Well," Titus began, "I wish it was good news...but it's not! Here's the hot skinny!" Titus' image on the screen was replaced by a map of the southern Arizona border. "I asked our intel asset to check out the big picture as well as your local ones. There are heavy concentrations of personnel, vehicles, and equipment in the Douglas/Agua Prieta, Nogales, and Sasabe/Aduana del Sásabe sectors. We think that they are going to try to break through in those three areas. Sector 4 is the most vulnerable because the defenses there are not yet complete." He paused to let that sink in.
"We're drawing personnel from western sectors and HQ to set up rapid deployment teams who can divert to where they're needed. Marcus, we're sending the bulk of those personnel and their equipment your way ASAP...the rest are headed to Douglas and Nogales. I'm downloading the maps and intel to you now. Be prepared for anything! Good luck!"
Marcus called in his available senior officers and noncoms to review the maps and intel. Templeton pointed out the heat signatures of numerous large armored vehicles hidden behind and even inside some buildings. Captain Jose Gomos pointed to a number of helicopters hidden beneath camo netting south of Aduana del Sásabe. Master Sergeant Dave Rodgers spotted several groups of personnel in concealed fighting positions just south of the Ditch. Infra-red images showed long, thin tubes like bazookas or rocket-powered grenade launchers in each of those positions.
"If those are what we think they are, we're in for some real trouble," said Rodgers. The others in the room nodded.
Marcus asked Templeton to contact James Crittenger and to ask the project manager to join him in the command post as soon as possible. Templeton left the room, his cell phone to his ear. After speaking with Crittenger, he went to the compound's main gate to meet and escort the project manager to the CP. Major Roman and his leadership team continued to pour over the information ASGuard HQ had shared with them until Crittenger could join them.
Templeton returned several minutes later with Crittenger in tow. Marcus welcomed the project manager and laid out the situation in a clear and concise manner. Then Marcus pulled Crittenger to one side of the room and spoke with him privately.
"Mr. Crittenger, we need to start moving your personnel and equipment back to this side of the border without it looking like a panic," Marcus began. "If possible, I'd like your personnel to lay some k-rails across some key access routes as they fall back. Then, I have one more favor to ask of you." Marcus outlined one more critical task the contractors could accomplish then showed Crittenger where the k-rails would do the most good. The major then handed the civilian a portable radio and shook his hand. Crittenger returned the handshake, smiled grimly, nodded, and left the room.
Major Roman issued orders to his officers and senior noncommissioned officers. They left the command post to join their personnel, finish preparations, and get to their assigned positions. Marcus turned to Templeton and said, "Well, old friend, here we go again!"
"Yes sir! Once more into the breach," Templeton responded.
Marcus winced at the pun. "You would have to say 'breach', wouldn't you?" The two old friends donned their battle harnesses and helmets, checked their weapons, then raced from the room. Outside, they climbed into an armored vehicle and were on their way to the border just a short distance away.
Marcus had his driver pull up by the border crossing facility. Leaping from the vehicle, Marcus almost tripped over a television news crew as the stepped up to him.
"Major Roman," the woman with the microphone said, "Michelle Dolenz, News 8, out of Tucson. This is my cameraman, Bud Smith. Could we have a moment of your time, please?"
Marcus kept his temper, just barely. "Ms. Dolenz, I really don't have time for this right now." He turned to leave but the news woman stepped in front of him again.
"Really, major?" she said. "The people have a right to know why you and all of these other aggressors are massing on this side of the border."
Pausing briefly, Marcus replied, "Because of the hundreds, possibly thousands, of heavily armed aggressors massing on the other side of our border who are about to surge through these two gaps in the Wall! Now I suggest you and your cameraman get back out of our way and take cover. I'd recommend on a rooftop somewhere in town, if you'd like to record what's about to happen. Now, please excuse me. I need to check on my personnel." Dolenz let him leave this time, turning back to her cameraman and continuing her report.
Marcus and Templeton raced up the stairs of the gate facility to reach the guard stations on the highest level. This location would give Marcus the widest possible view of the sector on both sides of the border. It also left him and those with him more exposed than he probably should have been. Marcus saw the sheriff and several deputies among the other men and women on the roof of the structure. The sheriff tipped his Stetson to the ASGuard major as a greeting.
Down below, the construction workers were slowly and carefully moving critical equipment and personnel through the still open sections of the Wall. Several excavators were lifting k-rails from pre-positioned stacks of the barricades and setting them down in the places Major Roman had described to James Crittenger. Many were already in position across the existing roadwa
y through the old border crossing. Others were positioned between the Ditch and the Wall to slow down any advancing vehicles and people. It took almost an hour to withdraw the construction workers and their equipment behind the wall.
The sun was nearing the horizon and the long, slow twilight that Arizona is so well known for was setting in. Templeton pointed out the forward positions south of the border where the suspected bazookas or rocket-powered grenade launchers were located. Looking toward Aduana del Sásabe, Roman and Templeton could see groups of people walking north from the buildings of the village. Their numbers swelled and spread outward east and west forming a wall of humanity. The sounds of helicopter engines spooling up drifted northward across the desert. Those were then drowned out by the sound of engines belonging to armored vehicles, large trucks, and other vehicles.
Major Roman lifted his binoculars and scanned the growing mass of people. There were men and women and children, young and old, large and small. Most of them looked like they didn't want to be there, as if they were being forced forward. Marcus raised his binoculars and looked at the people who were massing behind the first mass of people. Those further south were armed and wearing a smattering of body armor.
Passing his binocs to Templeton, Roman said, "Temp, look at the mass in front then look at the group in back! It looks like they're planning to run those people out ahead of the fighters as human shields."
Templeton looked and said, "Major, I'll bet you dollars to donuts, they've also got armed combatants mixed in with the front wave. They're thinking we won't fire into unarmed, innocent civilians...which we won't if we can avoid it!"
Suddenly, tubes poked out of three of the Mexican fighting positions. "Incoming!" yelled Templeton pushing Marcus and the others down behind cover. Three rounds flew northward. Two struck the front of the border crossing facility and the third flew over the facility and struck a building north of the Wall.
Marcus keyed his radio and said, "Target all enemy forward positions and fire!" ASGuard heavy weapons personnel opened fire and raked the camouflaged positions they had spotted previously. Their munitions effectively silenced the attackers. Small secondary explosions followed as the enemy's unused munitions ignited and cooked off.
Looking south over the lip of his covered position, Marcus could see the mass of human shields start to move northward. He had Temp pass along the need to avoid shooting the people in the front mass. Marcus radioed the defenders on top of the wall to fire at the armed personnel behind the first group. The armed attackers opened fire from behind their human shields to drive them forward faster. The frightened mob rushed forward toward the Wall.
"Now, Crittenger!" Marcus said into his radio.
"Copy that, major!" Crittenger answered. The project manager then lifted his company radio and sent a message to the driver/operators of several diesel fuel tankers. Those personnel had positioned their vehicles behind the Wall sections near the gaps. They had connected large hoses and ran them from the tankers, through the gaps in the Wall, and downhill towards the Ditch. Those driver/operators opened the valves and let the combustible liquid flow! Soon, diesel fuel became to pour into the Ditch. When their tanks were empty, the driver/operators quickly disconnected their supply hoses and drove off in their vehicles.
Before the screaming mass of people could reach the Ditch, Roman, Templeton, and several others along the top of the Wall and border crossing facility launched flares into the Ditch. The diesel fuel ignited sending flames and smoke upward into the air. The fire spread east and west in the Ditch except where the existing roadway still crossed it. An asphalt and dirt strip about 60 feet wide did not burn and gave the invaders a means through the wall of fire to approach the gaps in the Wall.
The narrow approach worked to slow the tide of invaders but did not halt it. Dozens of screaming people raced north over the roadway. Using megaphones, the border defenders ordered the frightened people being used as human shields to move to the east and west along the Wall to escape the attackers behind them and then to lie down and stay down! This order was repeated over and over in Spanish.
Many of the frightened human wave complied...turning left or right, hugging the southern side of the Wall, then hunkering down. Still more moved across the roadway. Some followed their predecessors while others tried to jump the barricades and reach the Arizona side of the border. ASGuard troops behind the barricades tried to push them back. Some got invaders got through. Some of them dove out of the way and cowered behind any cover they could find. Others advanced towards the ASGuard troops. The ASGuard personnel ordered them to stop but still they moved forward trying to reach the defenders. Suddenly, one stocky invader exploded, shrapnel, blood, and body parts striking those nearby. Several ASGuard troops were killed instantly and many others were injured.
Someone called over the ASGuard/BP/NG channel, "Suicide bombers! Some of them are carrying suicide bombs! All personnel, be advised. Don't let any of the invaders get near you!"
Another explosion occurred and still more border defenders were killed or wounded. ASGuard medics raced in to locate the wounded and move them to safety for treatment. The area between the buildings of Sasabe and the Wall became a chaotic battle zone. As a medic lifted an injured man onto his shoulders, another "innocent" invader stepped in front of the two and began to pull a pistol from under his shirt. A shot rang out and the invader fell backward. The medic turned to thank his rescuer to find one of the citizens of Sasabe standing there, holding a smoking shotgun.
"Don't just stand there gaping, son," the little old woman said. "Get a move on and let's get your friend over here behind this building! I've got your back!" The medic smiled and made his way quickly to the safety of cover. As he lowered the injured man to the ground, he was able to get a good look at the Sasabe resident. Why, she can't be more than 5 feet tall and at least 60 years old if she's a day, he thought! "Thank you, ma'am! I'm Lieutenant Dickerson. This is Sergeant McPheron."
The little lady with the big shotgun smiled at them and said, "I'm Mrs. Rose Bradley, the town librarian." She looked around the corner of the building and quickly raised her weapon. The shotgun barked once, she pumped in a new shell, and fired again! "Got 'em! That'll teach 'em to mess with my town!"
Dickerson continued his work on the young sergeant. Once he had the man's wound's dressed, he radioed for an ASGuard ambulance to pick up the wounded man. "Mrs. Bradley, would you stay here with McPheron while I check the field for more wounded?"
"I sure will, Lieutenant! Now you keep your head down and come right back here," she replied. "The sergeant and I will be right here. Oh, you may want to let the good guys know not to shoot my friends out there. We're all wearing these arm bands." She pointed to a small Arizona flag tied around her left arm.
"Yes, ma'am!" Dickerson said then keyed his radio mike. "All units, all units! Be aware we have armed Sasabe citizens on the ground with us! They have Arizona flags tied around their left arms!"
He nodded to Mrs. Bradley then raced back onto the battlefield to find other injured defenders. As he moved, he saw other Sasabe natives fighting alongside the ASGuard, Border Patrol, and National Guard troops with rifles, shotguns, and even a few pistols. Dickerson dropped next to a young woman lying still upon the ground. Dead! he realized. He moved to another person, then another, and another before he found someone who was only wounded. Picking this one up, Dickerson ran back to Mrs. Bradley's position.
The shadows were growing longer when the sound of helicopters could suddenly be heard overhead. Men leaned from the open doors of the choppers and fired down upon the defenders. The updrafts created by the large diesel fuel fires played havoc with the helos. Their pilots struggled to keep the aircraft stable to help the shooters aboard. Suddenly, one of the helos exploded and slid from the sky in flames. Fortunately, it angled away from the town of Sasabe and its defenders, crashing south of the Wall. Still other helicopters continued to orbit the small Arizona town and fire down upon the ASGuard and thei
r friends.
Another helicopter exploded, then another. Yet the sound of chopper blades was louder than ever. Marcus looked to the north and saw several ASGuard and National Guard helicopters bearing down on the enemy aircraft. "Here comes the cavalry!" Marcus yelled to those around him, "AIR cavalry, that is!"
As he turned back to the south, the passage of the flight of helicopters parted some of the diesel smoke and Marcus could see the advance of more of the armed forces from the south...and their armored vehicles were rapidly approaching behind them. The cannons on the armored vehicles began to fire lobbing shells toward the Wall, the crossing facility, and Sasabe. Marcus keyed his radio, "All units, all units. We have enemy armor approaching...firing on us. If you can get a shot at them through the smoke, take it! Then shift positions so they can't target you." The shells began making impact and inflicting damage upon Sasabe and her defenders.
He switched to the ASGuard aviation frequency. "ASGuard Flight, this is Centurion. ASGuard Flight, this is Centurion," he repeated using his call sign. "We have enemy armor approaching from the south. They're firing on us! We need them neutralized ASAP! Over!"
"Roger that, Centurion! We'll take care of 'em for you!" came the response. "You've got more reinforcements coming in by ground momentarily. They should be within range on Frequency C."
Marcus turned his radio to Frequency C. "All inbound ASGuard units, this is Centurion. Be advised, we have infiltrators within Sasabe. Exercise caution, some suicide bombers among them. If they approach you and won't stop, drop 'em! Let's watch out for friendly fire, guys and gals! We have locals sporting Arizona flags!"
"We'll be careful, son!" the voice of Major General Titus Roman replied. "Be there in five mikes or less!"
Marcus switched back to his unit's frequency. "Legion, this is Centurion! More help is on the way...ASGuard units pulling in behind us. Let's watch for them and make sure we don't fire at them when they start shooting!"
The Arizona State Guard Trilogy Page 11