The Collapse Trilogy (Book 1): Free Fire Zone

by Rod Carstens

  “Did you explain to him why I was waiting? That is the ideal time to make a snatch.”

  “You don’t explain things to Rand. You do what he tells you. I expect the same from you. Am I understood?” Steiger said.

  The spineless fool, Muller thought. There was no hurry. The situation was under control. She would make sure she paid Steiger back for this someday. Why was Rand so worried? Someone above him must be putting pressure on him. Otherwise why else would he be worried about an operation in the middle of the night? She didn’t know enough to push back at this point, but she would find out. If someone was pushing Rand maybe she could make something of it. Use it for her own career. If Rand was being leaned on, then Rule was even more important than she thought. This might be all right after all.

  “Yes, sir,” she said then switched back to the team frequency.

  “This is the Six.” She waited for the acknowledgments from the section and squad leaders, then said, “Our orders have been changed. Proceed with the operation. Squads one and three move out now.”

  They were well trained. All she heard were her orders repeated. She reached for her pack and weapon. She wanted to be in on the capture of Rule apparently he was an even bigger prize than she had thought.

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Resource Security Force

  Team Sixteen

  Rule Settlement

  0231 hours

  Tanner helped the last of the children through the large hole in the wall in the basement. The children had been big-eyed and scared when their parents woke them, but they had learned long ago to do as they were told, quickly and silently. Their lives, as well as their parents’, could well be at stake.

  The basement was large and was where the settlement’s sustainment activities went on. There was a large barrel that filtered rainwater piped down from the roof and made into drinkable water. They had converted a large Dumpster into a fish pond for food. Over it was a bed of plants that dumped nutrient-rich water into the fish tank. It was the most sophisticated aquaponic setup Tanner had ever seen. There were shelves filled with all types of scavenged canned food, and a bike was rigged with an alternator to produce electricity for rechargeable batteries. They had and were producing enough food and water to live almost normally. Tanner had never seen a settlement this organized in all his years in the Wild Zones.

  A huge main trunk line of the old storm-water system ran next to the settlement’s basement. They had opened the wall so there was direct access to the viaduct. There was so little water that it had long ago dried up, leaving what amounted to a huge underground tunnel leading away from the city. The settlers had somehow gathered six working cars and gotten them into the tunnel through a spillway, and they had plenty of biofuels for them. The cars were preloaded for a quick getaway. Nikki had thought of everything. With cars and the forgotten sewer system, the settlers could disappear almost at a moment’s notice.

  “What about the gangs?” Tanner asked as the last child was handed through to the waiting arms of a parent.

  “Underground is safer than the streets,” Peter replied. “Few gangs will venture into it. They seem to feel safer in the open. We’ve done some exploring and we have a destination already scoped out.”

  “I never considered using them,” Tanner said, amazed he had never thought of the sewers before.

  “Yeah, they’ve been forgotten by most people. I’ve got to go. There are a lot of things to get organized. Nikki is bringing in our outposts now. Will you tell her we are just about ready to roll?”

  “Yeah, sure,” Tanner replied.

  “I’ve never been out of the city. I wonder what it looks like out there,” Cat said.

  “We’ll soon find out,” Tanner said. “It will be good to be out of all of this.”

  Matos walked slowly up to them. He was looking much better now. “Are we ready?” he asked.

  “Just about. How are you feeling?”

  “Much better. The doctor cleaned out the wound then sewed it up. She had some serious pain meds. I can hardly feel it but don’t ask me to run any races.”

  They stood there a moment. The three of them had been through so much together, and now they faced an entirely new future. So much had changed in just a few hours.

  “No regrets?” Tanner asked.

  “No, not anymore. It is what it is,” Matos said.

  Tanner looked at Cat. She had been furious with him earlier.

  “I’m still pissed that you didn’t ask first, but it looks like it just might be for the best.” She smirked then said, “You may have fallen in the shit but you came up smelling like a rose.”

  Suddenly gunfire split the night above them in the street. Tanner and Cat sprinted up the stairs with Matos making his way as quickly as he could. They ran through the meeting room and took cover behind the big front desk. Nikki and the men from the outposts were sprinting across the street. M96 rounds followed them, explosions ripping the concrete around them as they ran. One, then another, was hit and fell in a heap. Neither moved—they both had taken microexplosive rounds. You don’t get up after one of those hits you, Tanner thought. Nikki and the three remaining men dove for cover in a doorway down the street.

  Tanner knew it was the Spec Act Team. They were coming early. Tanner and Cat began to return fire at the little blinking lights that showed the silenced fire from the Spec Act Team. As soon as Matos made it up the stairs, he added his fire to theirs. Johnson and Morgan came up to get in line with the others. They added their fire to Tanner’s and the other two’s. They both looked scared to death but they were still firing their weapons. Nikki had taught them well.

  “Cover me,” Tanner ordered.

  The others increased their fire. He ran and dove behind the front wall on the right. He was protected from fire from the front of the building but could see down the street where Nikki and the others were trapped in the doorway. He scanned the street in front of the hotel and down toward Nikki. It was empty except for the two men hit earlier.

  “Nikki, can you go through the building?” Tanner shouted.

  “No, we can hear them in there!”

  Tanner reached into his MOLLE and took out his last flash bang. It would temporarily blind anybody using night vision and give Nikki and the others a chance to reach the lobby. He held it up so Nikki could see it. She nodded then told the other two. The three covered their eyes.

  “Cat, flash bang.”

  “Check.”

  Those behind the front desk ducked and Tanner threw it out into the middle of the street. Tanner closed his eyes and turned away. It went off with a huge bang and a blinding flash. He flipped his night vision down and turned back around to face the street. Nikki and the other two broke cover and sprinted for the hotel. The fire from the Spec Act Team stopped. It wouldn’t last long, Tanner thought. Then he saw two black figures stumbling around in the street. They must have broken cover exactly as the flash bang went off. He aimed carefully and dropped each one with a single round. Nikki and the other two dove into the lobby.

  “Stupid,” Tanner said quietly to himself. Then he ran back behind the front desk.

  “We’ll make our stand here,” Tanner said. “You guys can take off now. We’ll take care of this.”

  Nikki looked at him for a long moment. “Bullshit. If it wasn’t for you, we’d all be dead by now. No, we stay and give the rest time to get a head start.”

  Tanner glanced at Cat and Matos. They both nodded in agreement. They knew they would need the help.

  “Matos, can you take the back?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’ll go too,” one of the men from the outposts said. “We have booby traps back there.”

  The two turned and moved toward the rear of the building. With Matos at his back Tanner felt safe.

  “Come on,” Tanner said, leading the others as far away from the front of the building as possible. “That’s a smart cookie out there. She’ll keep our heads down while the teams make entry.
Those service halls will make nice kill zones if we can keep them from rushing the front.”

  Nikki nodded. “I’ll take the hall on the left. Mike, you take the one on the right. Let them get in the open. Don’t get into a sniping match. There should be three to a team. If they go by the book, the three will make entry then stack up before going into the meeting room. Hit them when they stack up.”

  Tanner looked over at Nikki. She knew her shit. She looked at Tanner and Cat and nodded toward Johnny and Morgan. “You two stay here and do exactly what they tell you, when they tell you, the way they tell you. Understand?”

  The two kids nodded, looking too scared to talk. Tanner met Nikki’s eyes. She knew he would look out for her son. At the bottom of the front desk there was a series of slots in the marble. They must have held some sort of decorative foot rail, but it had long ago been scavenged. He lay down; the slots were just large enough to act like firing slots.

  “Everybody on the floor. And use these slots for firing. But wait for my order to fire,” Tanner said as they lay down. “Remember to wait for my order to fire.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Special Action Team

  Patrol Area Bravo

  0235 hours

  Muller couldn’t believe it. Tanner was here. How in the world could he be here? He had to be covering for Rule’s escape. Why else would they be making a stand? There had to be a way out through the basement, because none of her teams were reporting any movement and they had the building surrounded. She threw off her pack and set up her battle computer. She entered the new situation, hoping for a quick solution short of an all-out frontal assault on the building. Insufficient data, flashed her screen. What about the gunships?

  “Guns, this is Headhunter Six.”

  “Go,” the Guns commander said.

  “Can you get an angle on the lobby of the hotel?”

  “Negative. The buildings around the hotel are too tall and too close together to get low enough to fire directly into the lobby. And the street is too narrow for us to hover and fire into the building.”

  That left only one way to capture Rule: she had to assault the building. There would be casualties, but she had to get her teams into that building. The roof was out—she didn’t have time for a team inserted up to work its way down against stiff resistance.

  “All teams move to the building. Make entry through all available entrances.”

  She didn’t think there would be enough settlers who could fight to cover four entrances. If she rushed them all at the same time, one of her teams would find the weakness.

  “Second squad, move to the second floor and prepare to cover first squad. First squad, be prepared to rush the lobby as soon as the covering fire starts.”

  She had very little time. The settlers had to have an escape plan. It wouldn’t take long for them to disappear, and she would never catch Rule then. She would position herself with the second squad. If Rule escaped, she was in real trouble. Tanner. If nothing else, she would kill that son of a bitch. He had been a wild card this whole mission. Now with her career in serious jeopardy, she owed herself the satisfaction of killing Tanner, at least.

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Resource Security Force

  Team Sixteen

  Hotel Lobby

  0240 hours

  “Remember, when they open up it will be like nothing you’ve ever experienced before. So put your head down and point your weapon through the slots and fire. But wait for my command.”

  Tanner had never been on the receiving end of concentrated explosive rounds. It was going to be bad. He glanced over at Cat; her head was down and her helmet’s faceplate covered her eyes, but Tanner could tell she was calm. She always got calmer just before firefights. Morgan also looked ready. Despite her age she was taking her lead from Cat. The other settlers were nervous but doing what they were told. It wouldn’t be long now.

  The entire front of the building and lobby blew up in a series of explosions as the microexplosive-tipped ’96 rounds tore into the lobby. The ’96 rounds tore holes in the marble floor throwing chips like shrapnel that struck the walls, columns, stairs, and the front desk they were hiding behind. But the marble of the front desk held up and provided them with good cover. None of the rounds penetrated the front desk. The lobby filled with smoke and dust. The sounds of explosions echoed off the walls, creating a massive roar.

  Tanner counted slowly to himself. He had to give them time to begin their attack. It seemed like an eternity, but he finally reached twenty. He peeked through the slot. The teams had emerged from the building across the street and were running for the lobby. They were in the open, and the teams giving covering fire were reloading.

  “Now!” Tanner screamed over the roar of the explosions. “Now! Now! Now!”

  Everyone opened up at once. The fire found the black figures. Some spun and fell. Others went down and tried to get up but were knocked down by the shots from the lobby. It was working. Behind him he heard Nikki fire three times.

  “Got ’em,” Nikki said with real satisfaction in her voice. “Looks like I still got it.”

  Tanner heard Mike on the other side of the lobby fire down the service hall. He continued to fire down the hall but he finally said, “Clear.”

  “The rest of the will rush us now.” Tanner said. “Get ready.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Special Action Team

  Patrol Area Bravo

  0247 hours

  Muller watched in horror as the entire first squad was torn to pieces by fire from the lobby. It wasn’t possible, she thought. The men and women of the first squad were hit at exactly their most vulnerable time, when the teams providing covering fire had paused to reload. They didn’t have time to take cover. The fire simply swept them away. It was coming from the lobby. How could it come from there? She had the covering fire raking the lobby. How did he know? How could he have guessed?

  “Third squad, report,” she snapped.

  “We’re making very slow progress. The rear of the building is full of booby traps and we’re receiving very accurate fire from inside.”

  “How long, damn it?”

  “At least an hour this way.”

  What in the fuck was she going to do? She had no time. She had to assume Rule was getting away through some unseen exit. It had to be through the basement.

  “Fourth squad, how long for you to make contact with the target?”

  “At least a half an hour. We’re spread over the whole west perimeter.”

  No good. She would have to use the two squads she had left. She punched the situation into the combat computer. Insufficient data flashed on her screen. If she just had some time, she could use any number of methods to dig them out, but she had none. Every minute wasted now she had to assume Rule was just that much farther away. With no maps of the sewer system available, she had to go down at the same point he did. She was running out of options.

  “Third squad, leave half your squad and bring the others to the west side of the building. Second squad, keep half your people for covering fire. The rest report to the front of the building. We’re going to rush the lobby. I will be with the second squad.”

  She grabbed her weapon, closed the computer on her MOLLE, and began making her way through the building, then out and around the block toward the hotel. She glanced at the time as she ran. Time, she was losing time. Something she didn’t have enough of.

  CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR

  Resource Security Force

  Team Sixteen

  Hotel Lobby

  0257 hours

  The fire from the Spec Act Team decreased, then stopped entirely. Tanner slowly raised his head. His ears rang and his head ached but otherwise he was fine. Morgan groaned as she moved. Tanner rushed over to where she lay. There was blood in her long hair.

  “Morgan?”

  “I’m okay, I think,” she said.

  Whatever had hit her had just grazed her head. Nikki came
crawling back to Tanner and the others’ position. Mike, who had been covering the other service hallway, wasn’t moving. Nikki crawled over to him, leaned over and checked him, then looked up at Tanner and shook her head.

  “He’s gone.” She crawled through the trash and debris over to Tanner and Cat. “What now?”

  “I don’t think they have much of a choice. They’re going to have to rush us.”

  Matos and the other man covering the rear came limping in. “They pulled out. It looked like they were headed for the front of the building.”

  “Well?” Cat asked.

  “I’ve run out of tricks. He’ll leave some people to give them covering fire and bring the rest through the front door. He’ll take us this time.”

  “Vin, what are you thinking about?” Cat said. “Think. Think, Vin.”

  Tanner glanced around the lobby. It had ceilings close to twenty feet high. Old wallpaper was peeling off the wall and there was still some crown molding near the ceiling. It reflected the hotel’s better days. The floor was covered with dust and debris. An old, ornate, iron-railed set of steps led up to a mezzanine. The mezzanine. It might work.

  Tanner glanced at Nikki. “How long has it been?”

  She glanced at her watch. “Almost fifteen minutes.”

  “Is that enough time for them to get far enough away?”

  She paused. “Yes. Yes, I think so.”

  “Good. Then the rest of you head down to the basement and into the storm drain. Get away. Matos, Cat, and I will hold the fort long enough for you to get clear,” Tanner said.

  “No, we stay,” Nikki said.

  “No, they need you and trust you. You’re the best soldier they’ve got. You’ve got to go. We’ll be behind you. Don’t worry.”

  Morgan, who had been so steady during the firefight, suddenly looked panicked and grabbed Cat’s arm. “Don’t stay, please!” she cried.