“Captain,” Carter said, approaching Renner. Renner stood up; handing a rifle he had just repaired to a young resistance fighter “I want a briefing on your plan for covering the team’s egress after we complete our assault.”
“Let’s find some privacy,” Renner said, gesturing to a small room adjacent to the main garage floor.
At one time the room had been an office. A wooden desk and the broken remnants of an office chair shredder shared the space with an overturned file cabinet. The floor was littered with scraps of paper. Renner cleared some debris from the desk and laid out a map of Central Command complex and the area around it. Carter shut the door and locked it.
“Resistance operatives have already place explosive charges at all of the street intersections around the Central Command complex.” Renner began, “They’ll either crater the roads or bring buildings down into the streets to delay enemy reinforcements. They’ll also be snipers at each intersection; to delay the crews that try to clear the streets.”
Carter nodded. “Good,” he said. “The explosions will cause a lot of chaos. That will work for us.”
Renner pointed to a spot on the map. “Once you and your team, get control of the central command’s security room and open the west gates for us, my unit will jam the gates open, and establish perimeters on both sides of the opening. There is a concrete wall on both sides of the road going through those gates. It's supposed to keep vehicles from leaving the road, but it will make a good defensive position for us. They’ve manage to get a couple of supply drops in, so all one hundred-fifty of my people will have one thousand rounds of armor piercing ammo each. We also have two eighty-one millimeter mortars with thirty fragmentation rounds and twenty high explosive rounds each. We also are going to use them to lay smoke all over the compound. That will make it tough for the enemy to know exactly how many people are in our attack force.”
Renner pointed at several points on the map. “Once we have the perimeters established, we’ll assault these gun emplacements and capture them. We’ve made shields out of half inch plate steel slabs. They’ll repel the fire coming from those emplacements during our assault.”
“How are you going to handle the powered armor?” Carter asked.
“We have ten captured RPG-20s, six old shoulder mounted assault weapons, and four IMS-7s.” Renner replied.
“You’ll have to get pretty close to take out a Mark-23 with a SMAW.” Carter said.
“We’ll have to make do. Only about one in six supply drops get through. We’re lucky that all the small arms ammo made it.” Renner explained.
Renner swept his hand over the map. “While we’re attacking the Central Command, underground operatives all over the city will be setting fires, disrupting communications, and killing anything they see in an enemy uniform. We’re going to try and convince the enemy that the city is under attack by a whole army group.”
“This sounds like this a maximum effort by the underground,” Carter observed.
“It is,” Renner agreed, grimly. “Once the enemy gets over the shock of the attack the retaliation will all but wipe out the underground in this area. My guess is that within weak, the underground here will no longer be an effective fighting force. But, if the Central Command is taken out, it will be worth it.”
“What about you and you’re A-team?” Carter asked. “Is there a plan for getting you out after the assault?”
Renner shook his head. “No,” he said. “My team and I have been fighting alongside Mertens and her people for two years. What happens to them happens to us.”
“I have to ask this,” Carter said leaning closer the Captain and fixing his gaze. “Given what happen with little girl, can we still count on Mertens and her people?”
Renner thought for a moment. “For what it’s worth,” he said, ”Any report that I write will state that you took the only action that you could given the situation. Any other action would have endangered both of our units and jeopardized the mission.”
“I appreciate that,” Carter said. “But, what about Mertens and her people?” he inquired again.
“They’re still on board,” Renner said. “Don’t get me wrong; they’re pissed, but they won’t turn on you. When they find out what your mission is, they’ll fucking love you.”
[][][]
Tension dominated the mood as the team waited for darkness. Mertens and her fighters cooperated with Carter, but only out of necessity. The philosophy of winning the good will and respect of the indigenous forces that Carter fervently supported since his time with the Special Forces had failed. Mertens’ fighters now saw him as a murderer of children.
However, there had been no sign of enemy patrol activity in the immediate vicinity. Either the false trail that Renner’s people had laid had led the searchers in the wrong direction, or the enemy was not as concerned about two missing children as he had anticipated. The second possibility was unlikely.
What had likely happened is that the search parties had followed the false trail and were only now, hours into their search, realizing that they had been led astray. They would regroup, and begin a systematic search in all directions. But such a search would take time to organize. The team would be out of the area before it could begin.
Other that manning the observation post and occasionally patrolling the camp’s perimeter, there was very little to occupy the hours before darkness. Carter would have preferred to be busy; to keep the team busy. The mind could turn on a soldier while he waited for battle. Doubts and fears, tended to creep into one’s thoughts. Both could be deadly to a soldier. But, in this case, too much activity would draw unwanted attention.
So Carter sat on the floor of the garage leaning against its damp concrete walls. He retreated into the memories of those all too rare times when he felt himself to be at peace. Monica could bring him peace. She could calm him. He focused his memory on her; bringing every detail into sharp definition. Her face, her shining eyes, her perfume; all came to life in his mind. Monica: his life’s breath. It was through her that he had found what little peace he had known in his violence-filled life.
He became aware that someone had sat beside him. He opened his eyes and found Nagura there. She smiled and handed him a ration bar. Her face held concern and a just a hint of apprehension. He accepted the ration bar.
He looked at the bar’s wrapper. “Chocolate flavored,” he said, “These things are going for twenty corporate credits on the black market, and are damn near impossible to get through normal supply channels. Are you sure you don’t want this?”
A broad smile came to her face and reached her eyes. “Please take it,” she said. “I brought enough for the whole team. I was going to pass them out just before we begin our assault. You seemed as though you use one now, though.”
“You managed to get a hold of eight of these?” Carter asked. “You are now the team’s official scrounger.”
He unwrapped the bar, broke it in half, and handed one half to Nagura. “Please,” he said; “this kind of treat shouldn’t be eaten alone.” She accepted Carter’s offer.
The flavor could not really be called chocolate. It was sweat, but lacked the creamy texture of real chocolate. But, since it had been years since Carter had tasted real chocolate, even a barely adequate substitute was a welcome diversion. He and Nagura ate silently for a few minutes, making the bar last as long as possible.
“Thank you,” Carter said, tucking the wrapper into a pants pocket. “I appreciate it a lot.”
“You are most welcome,” she said, her smile becoming a grin. “The team is with you,” she added, her face softening even further with sympathy. “You had no choice other than to stop the girl.”
“I never doubted the teams support,” Carter said. “But, the fact is, I killed an innocent child. Rather you believe in Jesus, Allah, or karma, I’ll have to answer for it eventually. Hell, our own people may court martial me.”
“Surely, not,” Nagura said. “Our mission cannot fail. If
that girl would have alerted that garrison and kept us from completing it, the war might go on for another thirteen years. How many more lives would have been lost if that would have happened?”
“Expedience isn’t a defense for murder,” Carter said.
“What you did wasn’t murder: It was an act of war.” Nagura said, angry that Carter was accusing himself.
Nagura touched his arm. “I can see that you are already punishing yourself more effectively than a military court possibly could. I will tell you this, however. Monica will not tolerate this self pity. You would do well to be done with it before you see her again.”
“You’re right about that,” Carter agreed, chuckling. “You know her well.”
“We have known each other since we were teenagers,” Nagura said, nodding.
“You know, Monica never did tell me about how you two know each other,” Carter observed, wanting to shift the conversation away from the girl’s killing.
“You know that Monica’s father is a major corporate executive,” Nagura said.
“The Paragon Group,” Carter replied.
Nagura nodded. “My father was the chief of security for the Paragon Group in Japan, and close friends with Monica’s father. Monica and I went to the same girl’s academy and became good friends, along with my sister, Haruna. After we had finished secondary school, Monica returned to the United States and, over her father’s strenuous objections, entered your Air Force Academy.”
“I know her father had disowned here for joining the Air Force,” Carter said. “She hasn’t spoken to her father since she left for the academy.”
“Yes,” Nagura agreed.”But, her mother left her father and moved back to the United States to be near Monica.”
“My father arranged for my sister and me to be educated in the United States; at George Washington University. We both majored in psychology. After we had earned our degrees, he brought us back to Japan; to the Kyoto Exclusion Zone, and had us trained as covert operatives. By that time, the beginnings of the Corporate Consortium had begun to form, and my father was its chief of intelligence. Haruna and I were to be his best, most trusted operatives; to be used not only against the nations, but the other corporations that made up the consortium.”
“Yeah,” Carter said. “I’ve heard that life in the Consortium can be pretty cutthroat.”
“You have no idea,” Nagura said. “The higher level executives are drunk with wealth and power. Having been deprived of nothing their entire lives; they seek ever more depraved forms of diversion. The lives and dignity of others mean less than nothing to them.”
“So what, exactly, made you leave?” Carter asked.
“My father tried to make Haruna and I part of his depravity. He ordered us to do vile, despicable things.” She paused, forcing her emotions back into check. “He expected us to…” She searched a word, ”service’ his fellow executives and, one day, he tried to force himself on Haruna. She fought him off and, together, we fled. He sent his security people to bring us back. But we took the fight to him. We went to his apartment in Kyoto and found him in bed with a two small boys. I slit his throat, took some money, and my sister and I ran.”
Carter was stunned. “Shit,” he said. “I’m sorry. I didn’t want to dredge up bad memories.”
Nagura continued. “The war had begun by this time. So, we made our way to Free America and Joined the Free Nationalist Forces. When we tested positive for the paragene, I was inducted into Blue Team while Haruna elected not to have her paragene activated and joined the FNF.”
“That’s when you and Monica met again,” Carter observed. “When Red Team was called in to help Blue team get through the activation process.”
“I was overjoyed to see Monica again after so long,” Nagura said. “I had been reunited with the only real friend that I had ever had; other than Haruna, of course.”
“And then the PAC was formed and I picked you for Team Alpha.” Carter said. “I wonder what the odds are of you and Monica finding each other in this messed up world after all of that time,” he added.
“I do not think about such things,” Nagura replied. “It is enough that we did find each other. We are closer now than we ever were.”
Carter nodded. “Monica is always telling me that I over think everything.”
“She is right about that,” Nagura said. “A soldier must think quickly, take action, and move on.”
“So, you’re saying that I took action back at the school and I shouldn’t dwell on what happened,” Carter said.
Nagura smiled wryly “I said no such thing; but that would be a wise thing to do.”
“Well, I can focus passed the incident, but it will take I while for me move on,” Carter said. “Monica and I have talked about having kids. I wonder if she’ll still want to have my children after she finds out what happened at the school.”
“Of course she will,” Nagura insisted. “You killed that child to save tens of thousands, perhaps even hundreds of thousands, of lives; Monica will understand that. She loves you.”
“Yes, she does.” Carter said, letting out a long breath. “One of these days I may even figure why that is.”
“She would tell you if you ask her,” Nagura told him.
“No,” replied. “She might think about it, come to her senses, and divorce my sorry ass.”
Nagura’s body stiffened “Do you really think so little of herself?” she asked.
“I’m a good soldier, and I try to be a good husband,” Carter answered. “But, let’s face it, she could do better. So could you, by the way.”
“If she were here, she would slap you senseless,” Nagura said, becoming angry.
Carter smiled at her. “Take it easy,” Carter said, holding his hands up defensively. “I’m just saying that both are beautiful and smart. Like I said before; both of you could do better than a beat up old infantry soldier like me.”
Nagura stood. “You should talk about that with Monica.”
Carter shook his head.”Hell no. She really would slap me senseless.”
Nagura’s eyes brightened. “Then you should not indulge in such foolish talk.” She declared before to leaving to stand her watch in the observation post.
[][][]
Carter had just finished a two hour shift in the observation post with DeFontain and found Renner waiting to speak with him. “We’ve gotten some bad news from one of the other resistance cells,” Renner said as Carter retrieved a can of self heating coffee from his pack.
“Let’s have it,” Carter replied pulling out another can of coffee and handing to Renner.
“I sent a runner to check a dead-drop we use for contacting other cells. We’ve gotten word that Phillip Mancuso arrived in Brussels yesterday, and that he’s staying at the Central Command’s officer’s quarters while he inspects the bases around the city. And, of course, he brought along with his whole security detail; which is a company of First Earth Guards.”
Carter ran his hand over his face. “Mancuso: the WCA’s Party Minister for Military Affairs?” Carter asked.
Renner nodded. “Affirmative,” he said.
“How solid is this intel?” Carter asked.
“If one of the of the cell leaders put it in the dead drop, it’s solid.” Renner assured Carter.
“Fuck,” Carter spat. “Why the hell is a Party Minister staying at a military barracks? Those fat bastards usually take up a whole luxury hotel.”
“It may have something to do with an attempted assassination in Strasbourg a few weeks ago,” Renner said. “A French resistance cell hit Mancuso’s motorcade with RPGs and a heavy machine gun fire. They came damn close to nailing him too; from the reports I’ve heard. After that, all of the high party officials got paranoid and beefed their security. The officer’s quarters is more secure than any hotel.”
“Well, it doesn’t really change anything,” Carter said. “We’ll just get to the officer’s quarters fifteen minutes earlier than planned. That will
give us time to deal with the extra security. We’ll just treat taking out Mancuso out as a bonus.”
“There’s more,” Renner said. He produced an aged USB drive from his pocket and placed into an equally aged, palm sized computer. The small screen came to life with images of Mancuso arriving in Brussels in a small plane. He was a plump, but tall man in his seventies. He wore what Carter was sure was a silk business suit and walked only by supporting himself of two silver adorned hardwood canes.“This was taken by WCA State run media. Someone from our resistance network recorded it off of a news broadcast yesterday,” Renner explained.
“There was another failed assassination attempt as he arrived in Brussels. The truck driver’s wife was killed at Mancuso’s orders. I guess he was minding his own business at work one day and saw the man responsible for his wife’s death right in front of his big, heavy fuel truck.”
“And all had to do to get payback was hit the gas,” Carter said.
Renner nodded. “They broadcasted it to show how hopeless resistance to the WCA is, I suppose,” Renner speculated.
The screen showed Mancuso as he walked feebly from his plane to a waiting limousine. A truck, towing a tank of aviation fuel, sped toward the minister and his entourage. Most of the guards and assistants instinctively scattered out of the path of the charging vehicle. Even the members of the First Earth Guards, in their distinctive green and brown uniforms, leaped away from the fuel truck as it struck the limousine broadside and pushed it toward Mancuso. Several people reacted too slowly and were crushed by onrushing vehicle.
Two men, dressed in black and gold uniforms that Carter had not seen before, did not seek escape. One hefted Mancuso’s massive form onto his shoulder and sprinted him away from danger. The other ran directly at the speeding truck, leapt over the crushed limousine it was pushing, and landed the truck’s engine cowling. He drew a large sidearm, smashed it through the windshield, and fired several shots into the driver. The man leapt from the out of control truck just as it crashed into the plane Mancuso had arrived in. He landed on his feet with effortless grace.
The Fate Of Nations: F.I.R.E. Team Alpha: Book One Page 21