The Divide

by Scott B. Williams

  Eric was focused on one particular metal-sided shed that was located near the south side of the cluster, just where the man on the houseboat had told him he’d find it. It was part of the reason he’d approached the campground from that side, and the pair of Rottweilers he saw pacing nearby was the other. The man hadn’t been lying about the presence of the dogs, and Eric figured they were the reason for the mesh wire fencing. He was also willing to bet there were more inside the compound than just the two he could see, but with the breeze still out of the north due to the cold front that brought all this rain into the area, Eric was downwind of those sensitive canine noses for now. It was unlikely he’d be detected from where he was watching, but mere observation wasn’t going to accomplish what he was now determined to do. Eric had to trust he could pull this off and get it right the first time because he only had one chance and no backup if he failed. He set the detonator control box on the ground next to him as he continued to watch the campground. All hell would break loose as soon as he pressed that activation button, that was a given. Eric just had to make damned sure that’s what he wanted to happen when he did it.

  Two

  “THIS ISN’T A RESCUE mission,” Lieutenant Holton had strongly emphasized, when they were studying the maps and discussing Eric’s options. “We don’t even know if the boat crew is alive or dead. What we do know is that these insurgents are in possession of the vessel and that they have already demonstrated hostile intentions by firing at a military aircraft. We know that they have effectively shut down the Tenn-Tom Waterway, but other than that, we don’t have a lot of intel on what’s going on down there or why. We had our last radio contact with Sergeant Connelly right about here, on the river just below the lock and dam at the outflow of this lake.” The lieutenant pointed to a large man-made reservoir on the map spread out on the table in front of them.

  Eric wasn’t familiar with the Tenn-Tom Waterway, other than knowing it was an alternate connection between the Gulf of Mexico and the upper Mississippi and Ohio Rivers, but looking at the entire route now, he could see why it was important, bypassing as it did New Orleans and Baton Rouge, both of which were major trouble spots since the region was hit by the recent hurricane. This lake the lieutenant was showing him was located on the southern border of Tennessee, where the top corners of Mississippi and Alabama met. From there, the Tenn-Tom Waterway led south through a series of smaller lakes, rivers and canals, with several additional locks eventually dropping it to sea level to create a shortcut for barge traffic heading north from Mobile. Much of the route passed through sparsely populated areas, and this particular lake was no exception.

  “We don’t have the resources, for one thing, not to mention authorization.” Lieutenant Holton said when Eric asked why the people who seized control of the area had not been swiftly dealt with by a responding force. “It’s completely outside my AO, but since it connects to the rivers here, I’m making it my business anyway. But that’s where you come in. We don’t even know who these people are or exactly what it is they want. It’s not like they’re part of a clearly defined insurgency like we’re used to dealing with in the usual hotspots overseas. That’s why I sent a boat to investigate in the first place. I thought they were just a group of opportunistic bandits stealing fuel and other goods, and that they’d give up or run for it at the first sign of a challenge. We certainly didn’t expect them to take on a heavily-armed gunboat crew, but apparently, that’s exactly what they did. And then they fired on the helicopter we sent to look for our boat. These people will be dealt with in due time, Branson, and dealt with like the terrorists they are, but you’ve got to understand that there’s so much going on everywhere around the country that nothing happens fast enough. My responsibility is to watch over this part of the Mississippi and lower Ohio and keep it open for navigation. But even though the Tenn-Tom is far to the south, what happens there affects us here too. After what happened, we need eyes on the ground, so we’ll know exactly what we’re dealing with when we move to eliminate the problem. That’s why I’m making you the offer we discussed, Branson. This is what you do. I know that from the records we were able to pull. Now that Sergeant Connelly and his men are missing in action down there, I don’t have anyone else at my disposal that can handle a job like this. Connelly himself was a Ranger way back and he’s seen plenty of Special Ops action like you, but he may already be dead for all we know.”

  “If he and his crew are alive, I’ll bring him back,” Eric said.

  “I understand the sentiment, and I know you SEALs never leave a man behind, and all that, but I wouldn’t go in there with high expectations of pulling that off if I were you. That crew wouldn’t have surrendered their vessel without a fight, but if any of them are alive, then sure, it’d be great if you could bring them out. We could certainly get more intel that way because they’re bound to have seen and heard a lot if they were being held. I’m just saying that’s not the primary objective. I want that gunboat taken out of commission, so they can’t use it to further terrorize traffic on that waterway and I want an estimate of the numbers of insurgents we might be dealing with.”

  “Understood,” Eric said, “but one more question: What are the rules of engagement here? It’s still hard to wrap my mind around the idea of a combat mission in Tennessee and Mississippi. And besides, I’ve been working private contracts so long I don’t have a clue how things are done by the book these days anyway.”

  “These days I’m not sure anything’s done by the books, but I can tell you that survival is the primary rule right now, Branson. Get in there and get back out so that you can report back to me, whatever it takes. Otherwise, your mission is as useless to me as it will be to you and your wife. Do your part and we’ll do ours to get you where you want to go when you’re done. But understand this, like I said before: this mission is off the books and if anybody ever asks, I’ll tell them I’ve never heard of you. You’re on your own out there, Branson, so if you screw it up, you’ve got to own it. If you miss your ride, we’re not coming back after your ass. Is that understood?”

  “Loud and clear, sir. I know the drill.” But Eric also wanted to clarify another thing. He wanted assurance that Shauna and Jonathan wouldn’t simply be thrown off the post if he didn’t make it back.

  “If that were to happen I’ll do my best to see that they get where they want to go, but I have every reason to believe you’ll be back to go with them. Your record speaks for itself, Branson.”

  Eric was confident too after hearing everything the lieutenant had to give him on the situation. He certainly didn’t come back stateside to engage in this kind of operation, but the reward for pulling this one off was too good to pass up. A flight to Colorado by military aircraft would change everything, saving him and Shauna and Jonathan many days and possibly even weeks in getting where they needed to be to begin looking for Megan. Eric wouldn’t have considered doing something like this for hire, nor did he have any intention of re-enlisting to fight more battles after all he’d already given the Navy. The mission was strictly a means to an end for Eric, but he knew going in that if he found that sergeant there and could make it happen, he would do what he could to bring a fellow warrior home.

  Now that he was crouching here on the edge of the woods, studying the campground that this group of terrorists or whatever they were had converted into a compound, Eric knew the gunboat captain had survived because the guard he’d interrogated described the prisoner just as the lieutenant had. According to the guard, the rest of the boat crew were killed in the exchange of gunfire that resulted in his capture, and Sergeant Connelly had been wounded too. The guard couldn’t tell him how bad, only that he thought it wasn’t. Eric didn’t know if the former Ranger would be able to move on his own or not, but that didn’t deter him. If the man was alive, then he could be saved. If it weren’t for those damned dogs he saw wandering around inside the fence, Eric knew he could probably slip in undetected and free the prisoner without a fight. The rainy
conditions were perfect for that sort of thing, but no matter how careful he was, Eric knew it would be impossible to get past dogs at such close quarters without raising an alarm. It sucked, but that was simply the way it was.

  He would have preferred to get his man out first and on the way to the extraction point in the kayak before setting off the explosives he’d planted. Now, he was going to have to do it before he went in and hope like hell the surprise would create enough confusion to give him a window of opportunity. With any luck at all, most of the armed men in the camp would assume they were under attack and take off towards the lake to look for the source. From what he’d seen so far, Eric doubted they were ready for battle in the middle of the night. Even though some of the men here might be former combat veterans and the security was halfway decent, they likely thought they were isolated enough to be relatively safe.

  Eric continued watching with the detonator in hand now, working out the best approach and calculating the time it would take to reach the building where the sergeant was being held. In addition to the two guard dogs that he’d seen first, Eric also determined that there were at least two armed men on watch. They appeared shortly after he settled in to wait, making rounds of the perimeter together, no doubt because they were passing the time by shooting the shit and scarcely concerned about a threat from the surrounding woods on a night like this. They could be easily dealt with, but Eric didn’t have the means to quickly silence the dogs, especially working alone, and with armed men to deal with as well. Besides, those Rotts weren’t guilty of any wrongdoing, they were simply at the mercy of their idiot owners. Eric waited until the two men were back in view where he could watch their reaction, and then he pressed the button on the transmitter.

  The explosive charges were all set to receive the signal on the same frequency and detonate simultaneously. They did so instantly just as they were supposed to, and the sound shattered the still night in an impressive way. Eric watched the two guards spin around in the direction of the lake, fumbling with their rifles, while the dogs cut loose with furious barking and charged in the direction of the sound. Lights flicked on and the sounds of more men yelling filled the air as the echoes of the explosions died away. Eric put away the monocular now, as there was enough light in the compound to see everything he needed to see. Everyone’s attention was focused on the lake and the camp was in a near panic. They managed to hold their fire though, and he heard someone shouting orders to spread out and advance towards the shore. Eric took advantage of the confusion at that moment to rush forward to the perimeter fence. He climbed the mesh wire and squeezed under the upper strands of barbed wire, and then keeping low, slipped to the back of the nearest of the metal sheds. From there, it was just a dozen yards to the one in which he expected to find Sergeant Connelly if the guard on the houseboat had been telling the truth.

  When a man with a rifle at the ready in both hands stepped into view from the other side of the building, Eric suspected it was indeed the right one. The guard was looking in the direction of all the commotion and like everyone else in the compound, clearly dying to see what was going on down by the lake. Something was preventing him from rushing down there with all his friends to find out, and Eric was sure that what restrained him was strict orders to remain at that particular building, which told him all he needed to know.

  The explosions had the desired effect of turning everyone’s attention to the waterfront, but the lone guard he was watching wasn’t the only obstacle standing in Eric’s way. Most of the occupants of the campground had been inside their RVs and asleep, and some were taking longer to get dressed and get outside. Eric didn’t have time to wait on them though, because the first ones to rush down to the lake would soon discover there was no enemy to be found there. What they would do then was anybody’s guess, but Eric knew he would lose his short window to get in and get the sergeant out if he didn’t act immediately and decisively, while the dogs and most of the men were diverted to the waterfront.

  The first thing he had to do was take out the guard standing watch by the building. He would deal with any of the late responders if and when they happened to spot him. Keeping low at the corner of the shed behind which he hid, Eric picked a path that would keep him mostly in the shadows while he crossed open ground to the one that held the prisoner. He had his rifle at the ready in case the sentry turned and saw him, but using it would blow his cover and it was a relief that he didn’t have to. Eric’s diversion had been so unexpected and utterly convincing that no one thought to expect danger from the opposite direction.

  Eric rounded the back corner of the larger building and saw that the door was secured from the outside with a heavy sliding bar, but the padlock hanging in the hasp was open, probably because the guard had been inside with the prisoner before the explosions. That was another turn of good fortune because it meant he wouldn’t have to stop and search for a key on the guard after he took him out. Although it might have been possible to slip inside behind the man’s back, Eric wasn’t about to take that chance now. He didn’t know how long it might take to get the sergeant out and moving, or if he was even able to move on his own. He had to take down that guard and do it quickly and quietly, so he moved with no further hesitation as soon as he ascertained no one else that might see him was in the immediate vicinity.

  Unlike on the houseboat, which was isolated enough from the main camp that it didn’t matter, Eric didn’t have time to bind and gag this one. Inside the compound, he was at great risk of being discovered if the guard managed to cry out, and he couldn’t afford to blow the whole mission by giving him a chance to do so. Besides, after learning that these men had killed the other members of that boat crew, Eric was in no mood for mercy. He slipped up behind him with the big Bowie drawn. He could easily cut the man’s throat before he knew what hit him, but Eric knew he might still make some noise, thrashing about as he died, and it would be messy besides. Instead, he dropped him with barely a sound but a dull thud and the slight crunch of bone as the back of his skull caved under the hammer-like blow he delivered with the solid brass of the knife pommel. After scanning his surroundings again to make sure he hadn’t been seen, Eric slid back the bar and opened the door of the metal building, leading with the muzzle of his rifle as he stepped inside, sweeping the dark interior of the single room with a compact flashlight held against the forearm of the rifle with his left hand. A shirtless, barefoot man with his hands tied behind his back was staring into the blinding beam, trying desperately to get to his feet, but unable to do so without the use of his hands. Eric glanced down and saw that one of his legs was wrapped in heavy bandages at the knee.

  “Sergeant Connelly?”

  The man squinted and tried to look again before Eric quickly diverted the beam to one side. “How do you know my name? Who are you?”

  “I’m here to get you out. Can you walk?”

  “I don’t think so. I think my right knee cap is shattered, hit by a pistol round. I can’t put any weight on that leg at all.”

  “Then you’ll have to use the other one as much as possible. We’ve only got a few seconds. We’ve got to get out of here fast. Where are your boots?”

  “I don’t know. I haven’t seen them since they brought me here.”

  Eric considered taking the boots off the dead man outside, but there wasn’t enough time and they might not fit the sergeant anyway. Sergeant Connelly was going to have to deal with limping on one bare foot until they could get to the kayak, but hell, the man was an Army Ranger, so Eric figured he could handle it.”

  “Come on,” Eric helped him to his feet. “They’re going to figure out pretty quickly that there’s no one to engage with down at the lakefront. We’ve got to get out of here before they come back and start looking around. You’re the only survivor of your crew?”

  “Unfortunately, yes. I lost three good men to these bastards. One gunned down when they captured our boat and the others shot when they brought us here. They were going to kill me too
, it was just a matter of time, because I wouldn’t talk. I didn’t expect the Calvary to show up, but I knew something was up as soon as I heard the blasts. Where’s the rest of your unit? Did they set up an ambush?”

  “No, there is no unit. It’s just me. The name’s Branson. I’ll explain later, let’s go!”

  Eric put the sergeant’s arm over his shoulders, standing next to him on the side of his bad leg. He was going to have to support his weight between every step of his good leg. Thankfully, Sergeant Connelly was a very fit man, probably weighing close to Eric’s own 180 pounds. Eric would carry him if it came to that.”

  “Take this, since you’ve got a free hand,” Eric handed him the Beretta from his holster. “You may need to help me out before we reach that tree line.”

  Eric carefully opened the door, scanning the parts of the compound in the immediate vicinity before taking the single step down to ground level from the building. He helped the sergeant down and then led the way back around the corner, the way he had approached. No one had noticed the fallen guard and Eric was beginning to think they were home free until he heard a shout and turned to see a man walking rapidly towards them from one of the RVs.

  “NATHAN IS THAT YOU? WHERE IN HELL ARE YOU GOING WITH HIM?”

  The man had a shotgun in his hand, and Eric didn’t give him time to figure out that it wasn’t his buddy who was helping the prisoner out of the compound. He dropped to a knee, pushing the sergeant against the wall so he wouldn’t fall while he put the man down with a single round from the M4.

  “Nice work, but I could have handled him with the pistol if you hadn’t knocked me off balance,” Sergeant Connolly said.

  “You’ll get another chance to try if we don’t hurry. Come on! We’ve got to move!”