Invasion

by G. Allen Mercer

  “They are also erecting a radio whip,” Joshua relayed the new data. “Do you have instructions for us? Over.”

  There was a long pause before anyone spoke.

  “This is Momma B, sounds like a relay station to me. Over,” she said, breaking back into the conversation. She was moving at a jog, and also breathing hard when she spoke.

  “This is Bob, I agree with Momma B. Can you two lay low and gather as much intelligence as possible? Over.”

  “But we’ll miss the rally point! Over.” Grace countered harshly.

  “Tardis Blue, I know exactly where you are now,” Leah responded smoothly. “There’s no need to meet me at the rally point. Gather the intel; it’ll be valuable. I can be there in a little more than an hour. Over.”

  “This is Bulls-eye, I agree with Bob and Momma B,” Ian contributed. “Tardis Blue, if you can hear anything, that could be very valuable, but use caution and wait for Momma B before any engagement. Do you understand? Over.” Ian’s voice was somewhere between commanding and fatherly.

  “Tardis Blue, wait for me before trying to get close,” Leah said, reinforcing her husband’s tone. “Like Bulls-eye said, we can engage them once we gather more information. Over.”

  “What do you mean by engage? Over,” Grace asked whoever would respond.

  “Tardis Blue, it means that we’re going to eliminate the relay station. Over,” Leah said, quickening her pace and calculating a shortcut that she knew to reach the kids sooner.

  “Roger that. Over and out,” Grace said. She then looked at Joshua, who raised his eyebrows. “I’ve got to get closer to hear them,” she said quietly.

  “You heard your parents, we’re supposed to lay low and watch,” Joshua said. He looked down the hill at the two soldiers working feverishly. “But, if you think you can get closer without being detected, I’ve got you covered.”

  She had been expecting him to challenge her idea, not support it. She smiled at him. “I knew I liked you,” she said, with a half grin. “Cover me, I’m going to get close enough to hear them.”

  “Roger that,” he said, smiling back at her before putting one of his eyes up to the scope on his rifle.

  CHAPTER 10

  “Bob, this is Bulls-eye, we’re in position and waiting for your signal. Over.” Ian said, scanning the soldiers working to shut off the oil pipelines.

  It had been a while since any radio communication amongst the group. In that time, Ian had positioned Adam on a boulder with the small rifle. Ian was concerned about the stopping power of the rifle at the range that Adam was from any targets, but it was as close as he wanted to place the boy.

  He had Mary positioned behind a set of boulders, just across the street from the pipeline terminal. There was a natural path that ran between the boulders. If any of the soldiers decided to run across the street to fight, he thought they would follow the natural path. In which case Mary would be waiting for them on the other end. And hopefully, she would do what she needed to do.

  For the remaining Boy Scouts, Ian had tasked them to whittle spears with their pocketknives. The second oldest boy, Mark, had a locking blade knife, and he tied his knife to the top of his spear. They were another twenty yards into the woods, behind some boulders to protect them from flying bullets.

  As for Ian, he discovered a 48” drain pipe that crossed under the road. The pipe looked like it opened near the chain link entrance of the oil pipeline terminal…he would have to get pretty low to cross through the pipe, and he trusted it wasn’t blocked on the other side.

  Ian told everyone that the only signal that they would get that the assault had started was the sound of gunfire. Until then, sit tight and be ready for anything. With that, he made his way into the pipe and crouch walked his way under the street to the other side.

  Ian had been in a similar situation in Iraq, but he had a Ranger team behind him that time, not Boy Scouts. It was the best Ian could do under the circumstances.

  The Chinese soldiers closed the fourth man-sized valve and sat down to take a break before taking on the fifth valve. One of them, the pilot, broke away from the other four to retrieve something from the helicopter; which was parked outside of the fence.

  Ian backed into the shadows on the inside of the pipe, and watched the man walk past the opening at the end. His finger flexed on the trigger of the pistol while watching the man’s shadow slide away. Ian tried to calculate how he was going to start the assault. His only obstacle, besides the distance between the pipe opening and the chain link fence opening to the terminal, was a metal bar perpendicular across the pipe in front of him. He had to have very good timing, or his assault could turn drastically wrong. But, Ian still had an ace in the hole; he had a sniper.

  “Bulls-eye, this is Bob, I’m in position. What’s your location? Over.” Bob asked. He was wedged between two large oaks. From his position on the other side of the field, he had a shot that was only obstructed by the eight-foot high chain-link fence.

  “Drainpipe,” he whispered and then clicked his microphone twice to signal the end of his transmission without speaking it.

  Bob put his eye up to the scope on his .308 caliber tactical rifle and focused on the drainpipe. Although he couldn’t see Ian, he knew that he was there. “Roger that, over.”

  “Your location?” Click, click.

  “Eleven o’clock to your perspective to target and fifteen feet up the side of the hill. Look for two large oaks. Over.”

  Ian slid forward and looked past the soldiers and to the position. The drainpipe was lower in elevation to the target, so he could only see the tops of the oaks.

  Click, click.

  Bob didn’t respond, something else caught his attention. “Pilot’s headed back. The other four all have their backs to you. Over.”

  I guess it’s on, Ian thought to himself. He knew what Bob was telling him to do. Take the pilot out now.

  Ian clicked his microphone two times confirming the message. He then slid as close to the entrance as possible, putting his back to the side of the pipe that the pilot would walk past first. Ian holstered his pistol and drew his knife, watching the ground in front of the pipe for the shadow of the pilot to reappear.

  Bob watched through his scope as the pilot shouldered a portable welding torch and walked back towards the chain-link entrance. He was feet from the pipe entrance when he stopped. Bob settled his crosshairs onto the back of the pilot, but did not pull the trigger. This kill would be Ian’s.

  Ian could see the shadow, but as he tensed to spring out of the pipe, the pilot’s shadow stopped. Ian froze. There was a zipping noise, and then he heard the pilot relieving himself on the side of the pipe.

  Ian slowly pivoted past the vertical bar, staying in a crouched position.

  The pilot had his hands occupied, his sidearm was holstered onto the side of his leg, but it wouldn’t have done him any good. He only caught a brief glimpse of the man emerging from the drainpipe and never had a chance to react.

  Ian pounced, stabbing the Pilot in the side of the neck; his jab severing the Carotid artery. He then put his hand on the pilot’s mouth and pulled him down to the drainpipe where he died.

  Ian took the other man’s pistol and keyed his microphone. “Bob, one down. I’m going to start, and you drop them from the back. Over.”

  “Roger that!”

  Ian crawled out of the drainpipe and slowly walked to the entrance of the chain-link fence. He had both pistols drawn and was not making any sudden movements. He knew the soldiers’ thought that any movement behind them was supposed to be the pilot…but that didn’t stop one of them from looking back when he heard Ian’s boot crunch on gravel.

  Ian focused both pistols on the man that turned around and shot him with two rounds before ducking behind one of the massive steel oil pipes.

  CHAPTER 11

  Leah had turned off the main road and ran uphill towards a path that she knew ran along the top of the ridge and directly to Grace. As an avid trail
runner, she had done this particular trail during a race last year. But this time it was different; she was wearing hiking shoes, a twenty-five pound pack, a pistol and a rifle. She checked her watch; she thought she would be there in about twenty minutes. That might best my time!

  Daisy was doing well. They had stopped once they reached the top of the ridge to drink some water and eat a quick protein pack. Leah didn’t worry about Daisy; the dog was in her element.

  Leah did worry about her family, though. She could hear everything that Bob and Ian were doing from her own radio connection, and she knew that they had started their assault on the oil pipeline. This only served to make her press harder. She felt that if the word got out about her husband’s assault, that the Chinese would send reinforcements or at minimum, put the soldiers that were setting up the radio relay tower on alert. That, in turn could put her daughter and Joshua in danger.

  Please God, be with them, she prayed silently.

  The trail race that she ran last year was called the Ridge Race to the Tank. The ‘tank’ was a small early 1900’s water tower at the end of the ridge, and she felt that was exactly where she would find the kids. As she came over a small rise in the trail, she caught sight of the light blue tank for the first time. It was only a mile away.

  “Come on Daisy,” she encouraged.

  The dog looked up at the mention of her name, keeping pace with her master the entire time.

  Grace was crouching behind a tree that was directly across the two-lane road from the two soldiers.

  The two soldiers seemed to be finished with the physical assembly of the satellite dish and the small whip antenna. They were now plugging several cables into an industrial laptop computer and erecting a solar panel.

  One of the soldiers flipped a few switches and was rewarded with radio chatter that boomed through a speaker. The soldier didn’t try to turn the volume down, obviously thinking that they were alone on the ridge.

  Grace closed her eyes for a minute listening to the chatter. It was all in Chinese. She had taken a year of Chinese and thanks to her natural ability for linguistics, understood more than the entry-level course had taught her.

  She fought to piece together the words and inflections that she didn’t know to the words and phrases that she did. Where she had holes in the translation, she passed over it in her head hoping that the entire conversation would reveal what they are doing.

  “They’re going to invade the city,” she whispered quietly. “Oil reserves? We don’t have oil reserves.” The translation didn’t make sense. And then she heard something that made her break into a sweat.

  She keyed her microphone to speak to the team. “This is Tardis Blue, the helicopter is coming back, over,” she whispered, and then looked up the hill to catch Joshua looking at her.

  Joshua could see how exposed she was. Even though she was hidden from the soldiers across the street, she was in the open from the air. He motioned for her to retreat back to his position, but one of the soldiers stood up at the same time, grabbing his rifle and stretched as he walked up the road, stopping feet from the tree that hid Grace.

  Joshua put the crosshairs of his scope on the soldier walking up the street and towards Grace. He increased the tension on the trigger of his AR-15 with every step closer the soldier took in Grace’s direction.

  The Chinese soldier stretched and looked around as if he was bored. The sound of the helicopter was just audible in the distance.

  “Grace, move!” Joshua whispered harshly into his microphone. His voice boomed in her earpiece. She thought the soldier could her it.

  Grace looked at him again, but Joshua never took his eye out of the scope. She edged backwards and caught a glimpse of the soldier for the first time; she caught a gasp.

  The soldier stopped on the road. He looked around the ridge, paying extra attention to the area up the hill and towards the water tank. Very slowly he pulled his rifle from around his shoulder and into his hands. He had definitely heard something.

  Leah heard the call from Joshua for Grace to move. He had ignored any code and protocol.

  She must be in trouble.

  Leah was approaching the tank; it was less than twenty yards away when the sound of the helicopter buzzed over her head at tree top level. She kept running, using one of the legs of the old water tank to break the momentum of her run. Daisy stopped next to her, she panted hard.

  Leah whipped her rifle from around her shoulder and held it up so she could stare down the sights. She immediately acquired Joshua, the soldier on the road, the soldier next to the equipment, but she couldn’t see Grace. She struggled to steady her breathing as she frantically moved from target to target.

  Where are you?

  Grace had retreated behind the next tree down the road. Thankfully, this tree was next to a large boulder, which provided shielding from the soldier in the road. She took a chance and looked around the boulder.

  Leah was looking down the sights of her rifle at the soldier sitting in front of the communications equipment when she heard the rounds strike from the helicopter.

  Grace pressed herself further into the boulder as the rounds struck the boulder around her. Concrete, tree bark and pieces of rock were propelled into the air all around her by the impact of the bullets. She closed her eyes hoping the shooting would stop.

  The Chinese soldier in the road retreated to the communications equipment and tried to focus his rifle at his enemy. He couldn’t acquire a target and couldn’t see what the helicopter was shooting at. The second soldier was yelling into a radio.

  The bullets continued to strike the road and the boulder that protected Grace. She opened her eyes to look up the hill. She needed support and was looking to Joshua. What she saw, was her mother.

  “Grace, when I start shooting, you need to make it back to Joshua. Joshua, you need to concentrate on the soldiers. Understand?” she ordered, over the radio.

  Joshua looked over his shoulder and saw a woman pointing a rifle down the hill. He nodded at her and she responded with a curt nod.

  Grace put a thumb up, so her mother could see.

  The helicopter peeled away to circle around the top of the water tower, and strafe a new target. Leah fired back at the helicopter and used the tank as cover.

  Once the noise of the bird passed up the hill, Grace could hear the blaring of the Chinese radio again.

  “They’re sending more soldiers!” Grace said into her microphone.

  CHAPTER 12

  The sound of a large rifle was distinct and echoed around the valley. Bob’s first shot glanced off of the chain-link fence and grazed the soldier he was aiming for. The wounded soldier pivoted around to see who shot him and from where. He fired randomly towards the woods behind the terminal and outside of the chain link fence.

  Bob dropped him with a second clean shot to the chest.

  That left two more. Bob swept his rifle right to left; his eye on the scope. There were dozens of smaller pipes as well as the five large pipes; so, there were plenty of places to hide. Then, he saw movement. He settled his breathing and put the crosshairs of the scope of the person moving. They were at the entrance of the gate.

  Had they missed someone?

  Did one of the soldiers get out?

  There should be only five!

  He recognized the form. “Adam!”

  “Ian! Adam’s inbound. Repeat, Adam’s at the gate!” he yelled into the microphone.

  Ian had moved to his right the instant that he shot the soldier. He had already planned a position to move to once the shooting started. But, from his current position, he didn’t have a clear view of the gate.

  “Roger that. I don’t see him yet. Do you have eyes on the last two?”

  Bob swept the area again. There you are. He took his third shot. The bullet hit the soldier, but he didn’t go down. Instead, like the one before him, he turned and fired randomly towards the tree line where Bob was hiding.

  Ian moved to his right and acq
uired a perfect view of the soldier firing into the woods. Ian shot twice, dropping the fourth soldier. He then swiveled in a slow circle looking for the final target. “Oh, God!” he said, sprinting with his pistol towards the gate.

  Mary was sweating and nervous. She pulled the hammer back on the pistol once the shooting started, but had yet to look around the boulder. She had not heard a shot in about a minute, so she felt it was a good a time as any to look. So, she edged her head around to see someone coming towards her.

  “Ms. Mary,” Adam said, fear tinged his voice.

  Mary met the boy’s eyes, and then the eyes of the soldier that had his arm around Adam’s neck. The soldier pressed a pistol to the boy’s temple; he looked more terrified than either Adam or Mary. Mary stepped around the boulder to face the soldier and the boy hostage.

  “Ms. Mary,” Adam said, again. “I don’t want to die, Ms. Mary, please!”

  The soldier yelled something to Mary in a language she didn’t understand. He then stepped forward and pressed the gun more forcibly into Adam’s temple and repeated the phrase.

  “Please don’t hurt him, too,” Mary said, her voice scarcely audible. “Please don’t kill him like you killed Elizabeth.”

  Ian was moving across the road quickly in a low crouch, his arms extended out in front of him; a single pistol was clasped in his hands. He was fifteen feet away from the Chinese soldier holding Adam, and he could now see Mary. He didn’t have a clean shot. Damn!

  The soldier yelled the same phrase and then enforced the statement by pulling the trigger back on the pistol.

  “He said we need to surrender or he will kill the boy,” Ian said from behind the soldier.