“Maybe later, but we have a lot of material here and it’s going to take some time to move it,” Matt told her.
Waiting for a few minutes to see if Mary would respond, Matt looked down at Buffy. “We are going to check the line which means, you stay beside me and not try and sneak up on blues hiding,” he said.
“Geesh,” Buffy said, throwing up her hands.
Realizing Mary wasn’t going to call back, Matt walked through the warehouse to the north entrance. Most of the weapons Omega was using were suppressed, but not the heavy belt fed machine guns. Stepping out, the sounds that had been muffled by the walls roared around him.
Looking around the line, he could see blues two hundred yards out falling under the onslaught of fire. “The vehicles make a big difference,” he nodded.
“Just gives pussies a place to hide and shoot from,” Buffy said beside him.
“Um, Buffy, as I’m inspecting the troops, don’t take this the wrong way but keep your mouth shut,” Matt said, taking off in a stroll.
Walking beside Matt, Buffy glanced up at him. “Not my fault some of the new Omega people are pussies.”
“That’s been handled,” Matt said, moving along the line. He talked to the troops, then platoon leaders before finding the team leader for each side.
Coming around on the south side, he saw David looking up in the sky as an A-10 rolled in, dropping bombs a half a mile away. “I’m doing good, so don’t even try to come over here telling me what to do,” David said without turning around as Matt walked up.
“You better rectify,” Matt said, stopping beside him as the A-10 rolled out of the dive.
Finally, David looked over at his brother. “Jake had no cause to come and take over my team, I had it under control,” he snapped in a low voice. “I don’t care if he’s married to my sister.”
“David,” Matt said with a sigh. “It was his first time in command and you’re the one that better cool it. Did he make mistakes? Yes. But did we learn from them? Hell, yes.”
Looking away, David thought for a minute then nodded. “Okay, that was shitty of me.”
“So, you have a problem with us staying for a while?”
“Nope,” David said, then yelled at some troops to reposition the line. Seeing them move, he looked up at Matt. “The new guys are more scared of Carroll than they are of the blues. I don’t think we’ll ever have another person try to leave the line.”
“Shit, I’m scared of that woman,” Matt mumbled then looked at David. “Fresh troops will be here in a few hours, so start rotating. I’m sending a team out tomorrow to stir up trouble around the city, so the blues can’t concentrate on us.”
“You and I both know we’ll be done with the majority of the blues around here before dawn,” David said, grabbing his radio and directing the ammo resupply teams.
“Yes, but I can’t have the troops just sitting around getting nervous.”
When he was done on the radio, David looked at Matt. “Then push the teams out further, setting up sniper positions like Daddy Bruce did.”
Liking the sound of that, Matt grinned. “Yeah, and that would chap Jake’s ass.”
“Matt!” he heard Buffy yell and turned to see her on the line. “Jake is trying to get a hold of you,” she shouted then brought her gun to her shoulder, shooting into the blues.
“Man, what the hell did Mary do to him?” David said, throwing up his hands. “Jake was always the one who took risks.”
“It wasn’t Mary,” Matt said, switching channels. “Losing his mom did that.”
“This is Matt,” he said into the radio as David slumped his shoulders feeling very bad.
“Looks like the new plan worked,” Jake said and Matt could tell he was grinning.
“Like a charm,” Matt chuckled.
“Wanted to tell you that the rest of Omega is coming down to you with six hundred from Gamma. They are loading up and when they take off, will be there in four hours. Another five hundred from Gamma are driving down with heavy trucks with Omega’s support, bringing the rest of the vehicles to haul back the goods.”
“Damn, we don’t need that many,” Matt said. “You’re talking like six thousand troops.”
“Um, yeah, you do. We are picking up blues converging on you from several hundred miles away. Don’t think they’ll mass into a super horde, but you will keep the numbers you’re facing now for a day or two.”
“Just make sure I get resupplied then, you don’t have to send more troops. We will need them on the other raids,” Matt said, turning to check on Buffy. He saw her changing magazines and wearing a huge grin.
“That wasn’t my call, that came straight from Dad” Jake said and Matt felt his heart speed up.
“He worried?”
“Nope, he says caution never hurts and it will be good to see how fast we can put troops out,” Jake answered, relieving Matt.
“I’ll be expecting them,” Matt said with a sigh.
“Danny is over Gamma, but you have command,” Jake said hesitantly.
“I thought we weren’t going to do that?”
“Again, not my call,” Jake said.
Letting out a sigh, Matt looked around and pressed his radio. “Why didn’t your Dad just load up?”
“I asked the same, but he’s arguing with Mack. Dad wants one of the A-10 pilots to fly him on a combat run.”
“We don’t have trainers, all of our A-10s are single seats,” Matt said chuckling.
“I know and Dad is yelling at Mack, telling him to find a small pilot that can sit in his lap and fly the plane.”
Throwing back his head, Matt let out a bellowing laugh. “Oh, man,” he said, wiping his eyes and pressing the radio. “Copy on that. I’ll be expecting reinforcements soon. You want me to start ferrying the material out to the forward airbase?”
“Negative. You will be able to load up there with the new troops. The air wing will be overhead until you come home.”
“Then I’ll see the rest of Omega soon, brother,” Matt said, seeing Buffy yell at someone.
“With the scavenger team Stephanie’s sending, you’ll be on the road home tomorrow night.”
“Copy, over and out,” Matt said and headed over to the line where Buffy was at. Getting closer, Matt saw she was yelling at a man, and he was shaking.
“You aim when you shoot, you stupid fuck!” Buffy screamed at him, tilting her head back to look up at the man. “I see you just squeezing your trigger firing shots off again, I’ll shoot your ass!”
The man nodded and Buffy turned to see Matt walking up. “Now, shoot and kill blues,” Buffy snapped and turned to Matt. “Don’t start, he had his eyes closed just squeezing the trigger.”
Stopping in front of her, Matt looked up at the sky. “Momma Debbie, I know Daddy Bruce was unfaithful to you on at least one occasion without a doubt. There is no way Buffy isn’t his.”
Suddenly, all the gunfire around them died away and Matt dropped down to one knee, looking around. “Ah, Matt, the blues are pulling back,” Mary called over the radio.
Looking out, Matt saw the blues running away. “Copy, I see them,” he called over the radio. “All units hold, resupply, and dig in. Be expecting them to swarm us in masses soon.”
Running up behind Matt, David knelt down. “Not to nitpick, but they were coming in masses just a few seconds ago,” he said looking around then motioned for the troops to break out spare ammo.
“Jake said he saw them converging from over a hundred miles out,” Matt said, reaching down and changing channels on his radio. “Base, this is One. Where are the blues going?”
“Pulling back,” Jake answered in shock.
“Believe it or not, we can see that,” Matt snapped. “Where the fuck are they pulling back to?”
There was a long pause and Matt was reaching for his squawk box to start cussing when Jake came over the radio. “You’re not going to believe this, but the blues are, um… hiding.”
Leaning over h
er rifle, Buffy looked over her shoulder at Matt. “Did he say they were hiding?” she asked with a perplexed expression.
“Buffy,” Matt growled, feeling a headache building. “Jake,” Matt huffed. “Can you explain? Like where are they hiding and are the others still coming?”
“Matt, they are moving inside buildings, houses, under trees,” Jake paused. “I have a drone watching a road four blocks from you and it just showed three climbing in a garbage dumpster.”
Slowly, Matt stood up and all gunfire around the perimeter had stopped. “A dumpster?” he asked very confused.
“Yeah, if you look straight out from you now, you’ll see a UPS truck, a mile away near that shiny building. We watched two crawl under it.”
Bringing his rifle up, Matt looked out and saw the truck through his scope. “David, get one of your troops to open up on that UPS truck with a Ma Deuce,” Matt said, holding his scope on the truck.
A few seconds later, he heard the ‘thump-thump-thump’ of a gunner firing a fifty-caliber, sending out a burst and getting the range. Watching the traces arc out from the first burst Matt knew they were short and apparently, the gunner did too, sending out another.
When the traces hit the truck the gunner held down the trigger, sending a long burst into the UPS cargo truck. Seeing that he’d hit the truck, the gunner stopped firing as Matt held his scope on the smoking truck. “They have fucking balls of steel if they stayed under a truck getting hit by a fifty,” Buffy said, looking at the truck through binoculars.
“David, tell the gunner to hit it again,” Matt said, keeping his scope on the truck and seeing the smoke getting thicker.
Apparently, the gunner was pissed because he had already hit the truck and was told to hit it again, holding the trigger down. Matt watched a hundred tracers arc into the truck, making the smoke turn dark black and get much thicker, billowing up into the sky.
“Holy shit,” Buffy said watching a blue crawl out from under the truck and take off running.
Dropping his rifle and letting it hang on his sling, Matt spun around and moved away from the line. “Jake, are the ones outside Mobile still coming?” he asked in a low voice.
“Yeah, but they aren’t running,” Jake said slowly. “And Matt, they are staying in small groups.”
Matt stopped and looked around him. The vehicles were parked around the massive building, but they were almost a hundred yards apart. Hearing running feet, Matt spun around to see Buffy running over. Seeing her open her mouth to talk, Matt raised his hand.
“This is bullshit,” Buffy said, ignoring the hand.
Grabbing his radio, Matt changed channels. “Carl, see if those big forklifts in the warehouse will turn on,” he said, breaking into a run over to David.
“We don’t need those big ass things to move these pallets,” Carl called back.
“No, but we do to move these shipping containers around us,” Matt yelled back, skidding to a halt beside David. “David, I think they pulled back waiting on more blues. I’m getting my team to use the big forklifts inside and move these shipping containers around us making a wall. We will leave one opening here on your side and the other on Mary’s. Put two of the RGs in the gap, in case we have to boogie out. Get on your radio and tell the other team leaders. We will be forming the wall a hundred yards from the warehouse. We need to shrink our perimeter.”
“On it,” David said, taking off.
Breaking out in a trot, Matt called Carl and told him. Glancing back, he saw Buffy right behind him as he changed channels. “Jake, can you get numbers on how many pulled back into hiding?” he asked.
“Working on that now,” Jake called back as Matt ran into the warehouse, hearing a diesel engine fire up.
He stopped and saw Carl driving a huge forklift and pulling it close to another one that had an Omega trooper holding a set of jumper cables. When Carl parked, the trooper hooked up the cables and another trooper fired up the other forklift. “Surprised one had enough juice to still fire up,” Matt said then heard several more engines crank up. “Have to love good batteries.”
Carl backed up and jumped out and another trooper jumped in as Carl ran over to Matt. “I don’t like it when they do new shit,” he huffed, stopping beside Matt.
“Find me someone that does and you’ll see someone shot,” Matt said pointing outside. “Get the lifts running and hauling shipping containers. We are building a wall one hundred yards from the warehouse with openings to the south and north. After you get a wall around us, start stacking another row on top of it.”
Stepping closer to Matt, Carl glanced around. “Matt, a hundred yards is a short playing field inside. With all the vehicles, we won’t have much room if we need choppers to land. How about make the north and west sides two hundred yards out? That way, you have a small landing field.”
Liking the sound of that, Matt nodded. “Do it.”
“How high you wanting to go?” Carl asked, grabbing his radio.
“Two for now. I want three, but have to figure a way to get people and supplies up that high quickly.”
“Matt,” Buffy said, pulling her drinking tube off her chest. “Did anyone hear them yelp?” she asked, taking a drink.
“I don’t know,” Matt shrugged as Carl walked away, talking into the radio.
Clipping her drinking tube back, Buffy looked up at Matt and could tell he was in deep thought. Glancing over her shoulder and seeing several of the huge forklifts heading for the bay door they were standing in, Buffy grabbed Matt’s arm and pulled him to the side. Matt never acknowledged her or the move until the forklifts roared by.
Jerking his head, Matt watched them pass and turned to Buffy. “Thank you,” he said and grabbed his radio. “Any team getting reports of movement?” he called out.
When everyone called back negative, Matt spun around heading for the offices. “Where are you going?” Buffy asked, running after him.
“To talk to Dad,” Matt snapped.
She ran around him and stopped in front of him. “Whoa,” she said, holding up her hand. “You’re in charge.”
“I know. I’m telling him to get on Daddy Bruce’s ass and get him down here. They’ve changed tactics and we need his brain, not mine.” Seeing Buffy take a breath to argue, Matt fought the urge to take his belt off.
“Matt, Daddy says you never start bitching until your area is secure,” she said with a gloomy face.
“We’re secure, so I’m bitching.”
“Then why are you building a wall?” she asked, stepping closer to him and making sure nobody could hear.
“Buffy, this isn’t a game.”
Slowly nodding her head, “Yes, it is. Just one for keeps,” she said with a serious expression that didn’t look right on her pixie face.
Shaking his head, Matt looked away. “Did you bug Jake this much when he went out his first time?”
A grin split her face, “Oh, I was worse,” she chuckled.
Looking back and seeing the grin, Matt couldn’t help but smile, “Okay, I’ll wait until the wall is up.”
They walked back out to see ten forklifts moving containers. “It won’t take long,” Buffy said as the ten put down containers end to end, making a four-hundred-foot wall and then heading back to grab some more.
“Longer than I would like, this warehouse covers almost five acres,” Matt said grabbing his radio. “Big Daddy Two, can you find where they keep empty containers?” he called out.
A few minutes passed and Mike came over the radio. “Northeast yard, all of row D are empty containers.”
“Carl,” Matt called over the radio.
“What you got, little boss?”
“Ask the ones driving the forklifts, if they can bring back two loaded containers at a time.”
“Hold,” Carl called back and Matt jerked his head for Buffy to follow as he started walking. Spotting Mary, Matt headed for her as Carl came back over the radio. “The lifts can handle two containers, little boss,” Carl answer
ed.
“Tell them to start hauling two back,” Matt said, stopping and waving Mary over.
“What?” she asked, trotting over.
“Gamma will be taking off soon and heading here. I need you to get some snipers on the roof of the warehouse.”
“I sent snipers up there five minutes after the blues took off,” Mary snapped. “I’m not letting those cocksuckers sneak up on me.”
“Good, now start getting your troops ready to mount the wall when it gets built.”
“Just because you’re older, doesn’t mean you’re smarter,” Mary huffed. “I’ve already told my platoon leaders how we are going to set up, and why don’t you quit micromanaging me?”
Closing his eyes, Matt let out a long sigh. “Sorry.”
“Matt, you’re doing good, so quit this shit,” Mary said without sarcasm. “You have an idea on how to supply those I put on the wall? And please don’t say ladders.”
“Yes, and without ladders,” he nodded.
“Start on that then,” Mary said walking away.
Matt looked over at Buffy. “If my sister popped off like that at me, I don’t want to think how Danny would have.”
Shrugging her shoulders, “The same,” Buffy said. “Anyone else, she would punch in the mouth.”
Liking that, Matt smiled as he called over the radio, “Steve, do you have one of the command vehicles at the airfield?”
“Yes, we have Prometheus here. David didn’t want it,” Steve called back.
“Send it here, so I can get an idea what’s around me.”
“Matt, I’m flying loops three miles out and can’t find a blue on the street,” Steve called back. “Prometheus is heading your way,” Steve told him a few minutes later.
Watching the forklifts drop off containers, Matt shook his head. “What the hell are the blues doing?”
“Being assholes,” Buffy droned.
“Big, deep, and wide assholes,” Matt nodded and walked off with Buffy following.
Chapter 15
Matt was sitting in the command vehicle, Prometheus, staring at the images from all the drones around him. Nobody had spotted a blue for the last five hours when they’d all run and hidden. Even the ones that were heading to Mobile and staying in small groups started hiding an hour ago and many weren’t even close to the city.
Blue Plague (Book 7): Hope Page 19