The McClane Apocalypse Book Eight

by Kate Morris

  Hannah finally breaks the silence by saying, “I feel so terrible for him. This has been so hard on Derek.”

  “I know,” Reagan says softly.

  “I wish we knew what to do,” Hannah says.

  Reagan looks at her and replies, “We’re working on it, Hannie. Give us some time. We might figure something out for Derek, and if not, he’ll just have to reconcile himself with the fact that this is his life now.”

  “But so many veterans…so many vets who were injured and disabled…” Hannah says, drifting off with sadness.

  Paige knows she’s speaking to the suicide rate of veterans. It was always something she was familiar with because her father worked hard in the Senate to make the lives of injured vets easier. She’d even started a charity at her college to raise money to go to veterans’ causes. It hadn’t gone over well with the hippy progressive kids, but Paige hadn’t cared about their reproach. As the kid of a senator, she was used to it. Respecting the men and women fighting for her freedoms was something instilled in her at a young age.

  “It won’t come to that, Hannah,” Reagan says. Then she adds in an almost scolding tone, “Don’t even say that.”

  “He’s so down, though,” Hannah counters.

  Doc comes over and takes her hand in his, “He’ll work this out, honey. Don’t you worry about Derek. He’ll get better, even if his body does not. The Good Lord doesn’t give us more than we can handle. Don’t let your faith falter. He knows what Derek can take, and for some reason, this is the path that was chosen for him.”

  “Right, Hannie,” Reagan says in a more cheerful tone. “Childbirth alone is something that I didn’t think I could handle, that it was more than anyone could ever go through, and we made it. I didn’t think I would about halfway through, but I did. I’m sure as hell not ever doing it again, but I did it once.”

  “Reagan,” Hannah reprimands for the swear.

  “Yes, you did,” Doc says and walks over to touch the top of her head. “And we sure are glad you did, too.”

  “Do you want her? She’s done. She seems to like to feed for about five minutes and then sleep for an hour. Hope this trend ends soon.”

  “Who needs sleep? It’s highly overrated,” Herb asks rhetorically and with a broad smile as he takes his great-granddaughter into his arms. “Boy, your grandmother would’ve loved seeing this little one. She looks a little like your mother, Reagan.”

  “Really? You think so?”

  “Oh, yes,” he says and kisses the baby’s downy head.

  “Cool.”

  “Let’s just hope she doesn’t inherit her mother’s vocabulary,” Hannah teases.

  They take turns passing around Charlotte Rose while Herb and Derek listen for the radio and check and re-check the maps. Derek also goes out to speak with the remainder of Robert’s men and Dave’s backup. She doesn’t know how much experience Robert’s people have with this sort of thing, but she knows firsthand how well-trained Dave’s men are. His men have all been through the same as Derek’s. They are ready for anything that happens tonight. Henry and Sam join them a short time later, and he takes a position near the desk with Derek.

  “They’re getting desperate,” Henry notes.

  “I know. A nighttime attack, maybe not the first, and hitting villages that clearly have security,” Derek observes.

  “It shows that they’re willing to take more chances to get what they need.”

  “Our signs on the roads are interfering with their business,” Derek says.

  “After tonight, this is it. We have to stop them.”

  “It’s time for our ambush. I’ve been putting some thought into that, too.”

  “I have, as well, and so has Sergeant Winters,” Henry agrees with a nod. “We’re ready when you are, Major Harrison.”

  Paige isn’t sure why he still uses everyone’s ranks, but it must be a military thing. Either that or he is trying to hold together the last remnants of order and structure. In her opinion, that ship sailed four years ago with the first nuke overseas.

  “Let’s just get our men home safely before we plan the next mission,” Doc tells them, calmly sipping his second cup of coffee.

  “Agreed, sir,” Henry says and looks over at Sam, who is holding Charlotte.

  From what Paige can see in his eyes, he’d like for her to be holding his baby, their baby. His regard for her is undeniable. Paige just wishes that her brother felt so comfortable offering the same, open admiration to her little friend.

  Tonight, though, she isn’t worried about her brother’s love life. She just wants him to come back in one piece.

  Chapter Twenty-three

  Simon

  “Fuckin’ moron,” Cory swears again.

  His friend is upset about Parker, who has taken it upon himself to call the shots for his team which happen to be different plans than John is ordering. They are firing pell-mell at the men who are also firing at the wall of the compound. Basically, they’re all wasting an exorbitant amount of ammo. K-Dog and Paul’s men are doing a good job keeping the invaders at bay, though. Simon takes a second to review the scene before him. There are at least fifty men, maybe as many as seventy-five scurrying around, taking cover behind cars, trucks and anything they can. Others are shooting at Paul’s men inside the compound and don’t seem too concerned about wasting ammo. Luke is taking cover behind the car next to them.

  “Hold your positions!” John yells into the radio. “Wait for my order!”

  “It’s not us, brother,” Cory tells him. “It’s that fucking moron from Robert’s compound.”

  “Idiot. Some help,” John says. “Derek’s sending men to block the roads out of here. Don’t shoot them if you run too far out of perimeter.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  “Give Kelly cover if he needs it but wait for my command to move forward.”

  “He’s in position, sir,” Cory whispers.

  “Got it,” John says. “Hold your positions.”

  “This guy is an imbecile,” Simon agrees with John’s assessment of Parker, who is going to get himself killed.

  They wait a moment while Parker offers up to their enemy some firepower. The enemy gives it right back from the cover of their vehicles. Cory taps off a few rounds from his AR10 with the .308 rounds. It is loud and speaks with authority.

  John says into Simon’s earpiece, “Move in, Professor. Come hard.”

  “Yes, sir,” Simon replies. Then he turns to Cory and signals, “Let’s move.”

  Cory just gives a nod and rises from his crouched position. Within seconds they are in the battle and pressing forward. He just hopes he doesn’t get shot by one of Parker’s men.

  Simon can hear men shouting and see their silhouettes in the dark, outlined by a fire that has been lit near the wall of the condo community. It is blazing thirty feet into the air and illuminating the darkness, the orange flames licking the inky sky like a dragon’s forked tongue.

  “Hey there, asshole,” Cory whispers and pops off a shot, killing a man twenty feet to their left who was trying to sneak around furtively.

  Simon sweeps right with his short barrel rifle, having slung his sniper weapon behind his shoulder, just in time to see two men with an RPG aiming right at the wall. Unfortunately, it is also pointing toward them.

  Simon takes aim and fires, hitting the trigger man. The rat has fired it off too quickly, though, and the RPG is flying at them. He shoves Cory to the ground and covers him with his body after yelling, “Incoming!”

  Others take cover and dive for safety, as well, as the RPG hits the wall right in front of him. The blast wave shoves the car they are hiding behind. They both scramble to their feet again, and Cory fires a few rounds on fully auto to keep the enemy at bay.

  “Thanks, bro’,” Cory yells and pats his shoulder.

  Simon nods and takes aim again, shooting over the hood of the car. He shoots a man who is stalking toward them. The scene has become chaos. If there’s one thing he’s le
arned from fights like this it’s to take control and not let the situation manipulate you. Simon squats and aims again. He is able to hit a man in the calf before he is dragged behind a car by his comrade. Luke is farther ahead than them, moving at a faster pace.

  “Overlapping coverage. The Hulk’s in. Move, people!” John shouts into Simon’s earpiece.

  He and Cory push forward, making it to another vehicle in the road where they catch up to Luke.

  “What the fuck is that….” Cory asks rhetorically.

  Simon mimics his surprise as he looks up, “What…”

  “Fucking drone,” Cory says and shoots it down.

  The small, metal drone lands with a clank and skids ten feet down the road until it comes to a stop. Then someone shoots at them from behind. Luke covers and fires back.

  “Goddammit,” Cory swears and swings, firing from his rifle.

  Simon does the same, and together they take out three men who have flanked or who were hidden at the next house over that they didn’t notice. Luke kills another with a headshot. The enemy’s ability to flank makes the hair come up on the back of his neck. If three were able to circle them, others could, too.

  They pause and stay low. Cory shoots around the front of the car at people. Luke does the same from the other end of the vehicle.

  “Be careful,” Simon relays to the others who have throat mics and earpieces. “They’ve got drones.”

  “Roger,” John says. “Take out that truck of men in front of you, Professor.”

  “Got it,” Simon answers.

  Beside him, Cory is shooting at men far in the distance away from them. He shouts to him.

  “Shoot at the truck. There are men on the other side of it.”

  “Ten-four, brother,” Cory says. “Cover me.”

  His friend low jogs to the next abandoned car over and squats again.

  Simon and Luke cover by firing a few rounds down range to suppress bad behavior. These men don’t seem to have a lot of fear, leaving Simon to think that perhaps they have not come up against much resistance before. Maybe they are just that stupid, too. Either way, their enemy seems fearless. They shoot back, forcing him to squat. Cory waves at him that he’s ready. He remembers the many dead people and the two raped women on the sides of the road. It fuels his hatred and acts as a shot in the arm of bravery. Simon takes a risk and pops up to shoot again.

  Cory does the same, pushing the enemy into squatted positions. Cory rises and tosses a grenade, surprising Simon. They don’t have much like that at the farm. This must have come from Robert’s compound. Cory offers a big, boyish grin at Simon before turning back to look.

  It hits directly in front of the men hiding behind their truck. A second later, it explodes, and men scream in pain. Others do not, leaving him to believe they are dead. Cory rushes, so Simon follows to offer assistance. Luke is right behind him. They both round opposite ends of the truck and fire upon the enemy, killing three more men. They squat in the wreckage and take a breath before pursuing planning their next move.

  “Damn it,” Kelly says into his mic. “Someone, take out that fifty. Son-of-a-bitch.”

  “Professor, can you get eyes on it?” John asks.

  “Yes, sir,” he says. “I’ll have to leave Cory.”

  “He’s a big boy,” Kelly jokes.

  John says, “Take it out, Professor.”

  “I’m going high,” he says to his friend, tapping Cory on the shoulder and pointing up. “I gotta leave you.”

  “I got this,” he returns and fires a few rounds toward another cluster of men, which sends them diving for cover. Cory has hit one, and the man is wailing in pain. Cory gives a thumbs-up and says, “See you soon. Stay safe, brother.”

  Simon nods and jogs away as their enemy begins to realize they are not getting out of this without a fight to the death. Parker has effectively blown their cover, but he is keeping them from scurrying down the road in retreat. At least Luke is with Cory.

  John says into Simon’s earpiece, “Professor, when you get into position, take out that fifty.”

  “Yes, sir,” Simon returns, knowing the dire need of this situation. Someone has taken command of the fifty and is rapid firing it right at the front gate of the community and his teammates. Kelly is fighting behind those walls now. He has to get rid of the fifty shooter.

  Simon sprints back to the house where he and Cory were squatted and hiding initially. He kicks in the front, locked door of the home and does a quick scan of the room, which is actually a combined living room, dining room, and kitchen area. It was abandoned years ago because dust, cobwebs, and dirt cover every square inch. He sprints to the stairs and runs up to the second floor. Simon does a quick search to make sure he’s still alone. Then he rushes to the master bedroom that faces the road. The rest of the team is blasting away.

  After quietly prying open the window, Simon rests his rifle against the sill. He takes a deep breath and scans the area below him, sighting in on the truck with the mounted .50 cal. He pulls the trigger, watching the follow through until the man drops. Another runs over, and Simon takes him out, too.

  “We’re gonna need a medical evac,” John states.

  This concerns Simon, but he tries to remain professional and shoots three more men before they realize he is hiding in a house sniping at them. Then an entire cluster opens fire. He grabs his short rifle, slings the sniper rifle, and dashes. The home is not brick. Those rounds will come through the exterior walls. Bullets thud against the house and shatter windows. Tiny fragments of glass rain against his back as he retreats. When he reaches the hallway, a sound from the first floor immediately alerts him that he is not alone anymore. Men’s voices clarify the theory. Simon backs silently into another bedroom not facing the barrage of gunfire being pounded at the front of the house. Then he squats and directs his rifle at the stairwell. It takes them a few seconds, but they eventually run up the stairs. Simon is able to shoot one, but the other realizes what he’s gotten himself into and flees, tripping over his dead friend as he goes. Simon knows this is a no prisoners situation, but they do want to keep a few for questioning. He hits him in the right butt cheek with a round and puts him down. The man falls end over end down the stairs with a howl, but Simon pauses a moment to make sure there aren’t others who are going to rush him the moment he comes down the stairs.

  “Throw out your gun!” he barks as he keeps his weapon trained on the man on the floor. He doesn’t answer, so Simon threatens him, “Throw it to the side, or I’ll shoot again.”

  “I don’t have it!” the man cries out.

  Simon scans the area and spots it. He approaches cautiously, kneels and hogties the guy’s hands behind his back with zip ties. Then he rolls him over and pats him down for another gun, which he doesn’t find. What he does discover, though, is a teenager, not a man. The kid can’t be more than sixteen.

  “I’m dying!” he cries out with fear.

  “You aren’t dying. Stay quiet. Stay down. I’ll be back for you. Don’t get back up, kid. You’ll likely get shot again.”

  “Please, please don’t kill me. I won’t tell them where you are…”

  “Shut up,” Simon says, silencing his pleas. “Stay here. If I come back and you aren’t here, I’ll hunt you down and kill you. Understand me?”

  “Ye-yes. Yes, sir,” the kid stutters nervously.

  Simon rises as his earpiece goes off again.

  “Professor, get over here,” John says. “Go around back to Kelly. He’s got injured. Cory will meet you and provide cover to get you in.”

  He exits the house the same way and finds Cory and Luke right at the edge of the porch squatted low.

  “Got a kid tied up in there,” he tells his friend.

  “Kid?”

  “Teenager,” Simon clarifies.

  “Gotta get you inside the compound. My brother needs help,” he says.

  As he is about to answer, another grenade explodes. This time it takes out the technical. Th
e truck explodes a moment later, taking the fifty cal with it.

  “Robert’s men,” his friend explains.

  He follows his friend in the dark through the woods and whispers, “You guys got some good toys from the general.”

  “Yeah, but we got Parker, too. Kind of a shitty deal, you ask me,” Cory jokes.

  Simon grins and jogs behind his friend. Strangely enough, the highwaymen don’t have people set up in the woods to take out anyone making an escape.

  “Plus, the dude’s got the hots for your sister, so I really just wanna’ shoot him in the fucking face,” Cory tells him.

  “Yeah, lot of that going around lately,” he says and punches Cory in the shoulder, very hard.

  He just gets a laugh from his former friend. Luke is not joining in, though. He is serious, intense, not like a scientific student of DNA research right at this moment.

  “Admit it, you still love me, bro’,” Cory jokes. “If you didn’t, you wouldn’t have saved my ass back there from getting an RPG up it.”

  “Reflex,” Simon replies as they come to the back gate unscathed. “Thanks for the envoy. Now get lost.”

  Cory laughs obnoxiously and leaves as Kelly lets him in the gate.

  “They still don’t know we have a rear gate,” Kelly tells him as they jog through the compound.

  “That’s good,” Simon says with hope. “I’ve got a teenager tied up in one of the houses across the street.”

  Kelly nods and says, “Assholes shot up a few of K-Dog’s men. We need medical help, brother.”

  “Yes, sir,” he answers, starting to feel the weight of his value, which he does not hold very high. “I’ll do what I can.”

  “They’ll need evac’d to our town for medical care, surgery, whatever the fuck,” Kelly says with stress. “We gotta get ‘em outta here. This is a shit storm.”

  “How’re we doing?”

  “Better since you got that asshole on the fifty off our tails,” Kelly answers as they come to a temporary medical site in one of the condos.