Rescue: Book 3 in the After the Fall series

by David Nees

Jason nodded.

  When the first shots hit, McKenzie ordered the convoy to stop. As planned the armored vehicles moved forward to shield the trucks. Unfortunately, one was already getting shot up along with another Humvee. The first APC had started firing at the hillside.

  “If we back up,” his lieutenant shouted, “we’ll get most of the convoy out of the line of fire.”

  “Radio that out,” McKenzie said. “And get the tank gun into action.”

  He knew it had shut down the sniping before but it hadn’t killed the snipers. Maybe this time.

  After the third tank round, McKenzie called a ceasefire. A few last rounds of the machine gun rattled off and the air was still. The armored vehicles were now protecting the trucks and Humvees still left in the shooting area. The rest of the convoy had backed up. When the firing had started, the tanker truck, last in line, had stopped. It was not in the ambush area and the driver wisely shut it down and then ran into the ditch in the median.

  “What do we do now?” The lieutenant asked.

  “Get a dozen men and send them after those snipers. There’s only two of them. They need to get to the shooting position and find out if they’re dead. If not send the men after them. I want them killed. I don’t want a repeat of this another few miles down the road.”

  He stomped off to look at the crippled truck.

  The lieutenant grabbed some men, and sent them across the river. He gave them a radio and told them to report when they got to the sniper’s location. If there weren’t any bodies, they were to head south in pursuit.

  Chapter 44

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  J ason estimated they were almost two miles south when he headed back to the highway. The hill was higher than the last one and had a long sight line to watch the convoy advancing. It sloped gradually down to the river and could easily be charged, if the Knoxville force decided to attack. He and Catherine would have limited opportunity to shoot attackers who would be shielded by trees as they advanced up the slope.

  Jason was worried but his option was always to retreat, if not to the south, then back into the woods, to the west. They settled down to wait and watch. Always the waiting and watching, he thought.

  “Do you think we can repeat this all day?” Catherine asked.

  “Maybe. Each time we ambush them, it causes a couple of hours delay and they lose a vehicle of two. The vehicle loss will take its toll. Those trucks aren’t empty, so they’ll have to overload the remaining trucks. If they’re carrying troops, more of them will have to walk which means they can’t cycle in and out. They’ll move slower as a result.”

  “Yeah, but we only get a few shots in and then we have to run…before the tank fires at us.”

  Jason looked at his step daughter. She was so inquisitive and so deadly with a rifle. He wondered if the experience was damaging to her. The world they now lived in was nothing like before. She had experienced “before”, so she would be acutely aware of how different things were.

  “We may only get a few shots in, but we seem to be able to make them count.”

  Catherine didn’t respond. She seemed to be digesting this new experience with heavier weapons.

  “Our world is quite different now than it was a few years ago,” Jason said.

  Catherine looked at him.

  “I wonder how you feel about it,” Jason continued. “You remember how it was before the EMP attack. Do you ever think about the changes?”

  She looked off into the woods. “Of course. Not every day, but often.”

  “Do you miss it? The life before?”

  “Parts of it. I miss going to school.” She sighed. “But I don’t think I could sit in school now. Not after what I’ve been through, what I’ve done. The attack caused me to grow up fast…faster than Sarah.”

  “She’s younger. I think she’s tried to hold on to her childhood more than you. You were ready to be an adult.”

  “Maybe. I got to see the killing up closer than Sarah. It takes away one’s childhood.”

  “I’m sorry about that.”

  “Don’t be. It’s not your fault. It’s part of how the world changed. Had to put aside childhood.”

  “Well you seemed to have adjusted well. You have a fine husband.”

  “Kevin’s been a rock. He’s older, but emotionally we’re not so far apart.” She paused to think. “I guess I’ve always been more serious, even when I was younger.”

  “Sarah was the vivacious beauty, you were the quieter, more thoughtful one. That’s what I observed when I joined the family.”

  “I think that’s right. And if you hadn’t found us, we might not be alive today.” She took a swig from her canteen. “Shooting is thirsty work.”

  “It’s the adrenalin,” Jason said.

  “You coming along when you did,” Catherine continued, “gave me the focus to process all the changes. Learning to shoot, learning how good I was at it, gave me the confidence to face this new reality. I get tired of it, but I know I have the skills to survive and thrive in it. I just hope we can get to some level of peace in our daily lives.”

  “We all hope for that.” Jason changed the subject. “Have you and Kevin thought about kids?”

  “We’ve talked about it. We’re both kind of ready, but the crises seem to just keep coming.”

  “Yeah, that’s unfortunate. When the time comes, you’ll have to change from warrior to mother. That’s a whole different dynamic.”

  “And what do you know about being a mother?” Catherine looked at him with a grin on her face.

  “You got me there. I only have second-hand info from your mom. She managed it pretty well, refusing to hide out and avoid potential conflict, even late in her pregnancy. It hasn’t seemed to hurt Adam.”

  “Mom’s my model when the time comes, for sure.”

  Suddenly they both turned. There was the sound of undergrowth crunching, a muffled voice. It came from below them, from the direction they had just traveled.

  “They’ve sent a team after us,” Jason said in a whisper.

  “Should we spread out?”

  Jason nodded. “Stay on the high ground. We’ll need to try to figure out how many are coming, but we can’t let them get too close. These rifles aren’t the best in the woods with these scopes. You’ve zeroed at a hundred yards, adjust it down to fifty. My M107 is heavy and not so good for anti-personnel shooting. We’ll be relying on your rifle.”

  Catherine nodded, her face set grim and determined.

  “How many rounds do you have left?”

  I’ve gone through a mag and a half.”

  “Load a fresh mag. I’ve only got ten round mags for the 107, so you can keep up the firing if I have to reload.”

  Catherine started to go but Jason grabbed her arm.

  “Remember to shoot only when you can see your target. They’ll probably shoot at sounds so they’ll be sending lots of rounds through the woods. If ours count it will unnerve them to see their buddies drop with each shot. Now be careful.”

  She nodded and moved silently away from Jason.

  Catherine moved through the brush, careful to stay on high ground She stopped about fifty yards away from Jason who remained at their shooting position. She was protected by an oak tree with some boulders next to its trunk. Good place to shoot from. She lay down, partially behind the oak and the rocks. After sliding her barrel through a gap in the stones, she began to scan the foliage down the slope.

  Wait until I can see more than one of them. I can’t let them spread out and circle behind me. Catherine figured if they tried to out-flank her, she would have to retreat, even if it meant heading downhill. She had confidence that she could move faster and quieter, but their rifles, probably with open sights, would be better suited to the woods than her M110 with its powerful scope. Looking through the scope was difficult with all the foliage distorting her view downrange.

  After a few minutes, she saw a shadowy figure, then another one. They were no
t well-disciplined, moving close to one another. Got a chance. After seeing five men coming up the slope, she aimed at the first figure and fired. The shot flew high. The man dropped to the ground, but Catherine fired low where she saw the figure disappear. Her second shot struck home. She saw the brush move and an arm fling out on the ground.

  Return fire erupted. Catherine slid her barrel back so it couldn’t be seen. She watched through the cleft in the rocks, trying to pinpoint the muzzle flashes. After a flurry of rounds, she heard rustling again. One man raised up and started forward in a crouch. Catherine slid her rifle out and hit the man in the chest. She pulled the barrel back again to wait out the flurry of shots being sprayed in her general direction.

  Then she heard the heavier boom of the .50 cal. Jason had found a target. The shooting in her direction stopped. Shots were now being directed towards Jason. The big rifle boomed out again and then all was silent. She could hear men calling back and forth. They were still trying to pin down the shooter’s locations. No one seemed to want to move. However, many men had been sent, Catherine guessed they were four fewer in number now.

  There was no movement. Catherine heard muffled talking back and forth but couldn’t make out the words.

  Suddenly multiple rounds were fired, rapidly. It sounded like the shooters were sending three-round automatic burst in her direction. She hunkered down. When she heard branches snapping, she risked a look. Men were charging up the slope, firing as they went. Catherine slid her rifle forward and got off one shot that dropped one of the attackers. Then she scrambled back and turned to run through the woods, angling to her left. As she ran, she heard Jason’s rifle firing.

  After about thirty yards, she dropped behind a large tree and swung her rifle around it. Got to take out anyone following before they zero in on me. Instinctively she realized that she was playing a game of shoot, retreat, shoot again and repeat the process. Never allowing the enemy to pin her down. As long as she could retreat and set up another position maybe she could wear them down. They had to expose themselves to come after her while she could wait.

  They want to kill me. They want to kill Jason and all we hold dear. She watched the woods, looking over the rifle sights, waiting to see the enemy. Her determination solidified. If they wanted to kill her, she would have that fate in store for them. Now calm and methodical, she waited.

  One of the attackers stood up with his back to Catherine. Must be protecting himself from Jason’s fire. Without hesitation, she took the shot.

  Jason had watched as the men came up the hill. He heard Catherine fire. One of the men went down and the others started shooing wildly in Catherine’s direction Jason waited until he had a clear shot and took one of them out. Now shots began coming in his direction, but without effect. They couldn’t see him.

  Another shot came from Catherine. That redirected the return fire. Jason raised up slightly and sighted one of the shooters. His next shot ripped through the man, flinging his body across the ground. The others dropped down to conceal themselves. Jason could see the leg of one of the men. He moved his aim forward an approximate amount and took a shot. The leg flopped up and swung to the side indicating a hit to the torso.

  There seemed to be confusion in the attack. Jason took the opportunity to maneuver around more to the rear quarter of where he thought the men were pinned down. He was careful to not get into Catherine’s path of fire.

  Then a flurry of rounds rang out from the attackers and they started rushing uphill towards Catherine’s position. He heard her fire once. Then he stood up and began firing at the charging men. He could barely see them through the brush. Against his training he let loose a volley of shots at the bodies as they ran upwards and away from his position. Got to interrupt their charge. He hoped Catherine was retreating.

  He guessed he’d hit two men but he wasn’t sure. The charge collapsed as the remaining attackers dropped to protect themselves from Jason’s crossfire. Every shot from the M107 tore up the trees, ripping open trunks of a foot in diameter. Jason knew it was sowing fear in the men, even when he missed his target.

  The remaining men forgot about Catherine in their fear of the .50 caliber rifle fire now coming at them from their rear flank. When they adjusted their concealment to protect themselves from Jason’s shooting, one of them exposed himself to Catherine. He stood up behind a three-foot diameter tree to try to get a bead on Jason. She took the shot. The man was slammed up against the trunk and slid to the ground. One of the men now turned and fled back through the woods and that triggered a route of the few remaining attackers. Both Jason and Catherine fired a few rounds at them but didn’t pursue.

  Chapter 45

  ___________________________________

  O f the dozen men sent out to eliminate the snipers, three returned. They had lost their radio and McKenzie had no idea of what had happened until they shuffled back to the convoy.

  “What happened? Did you get them?” McKenzie asked after the men waded across the river and approached the convoy.

  The men didn’t answer right away. Their heads were down and when they looked up, McKenzie saw the fear on their faces.

  They stopped when they got to the general and his officers. McKenzie grabbed one of them by the arm and shook him. “I asked you a question. Did you kill the snipers?”

  The man shook his head, afraid, or unable to speak.

  “Where are the others?” the lieutenant asked.

  “Dead,” one of the men replied.

  “All of them?” the lieutenant asked.

  The man nodded. “We never saw them, but they saw us. Every time they shot, one of us died. We tried to charge them, but they attacked us…from two sides.”

  “There are only two of them, not a squad,” McKenzie said. “What the hell are you talking about?”

  The men just looked at the general, fear still showing on their faces.

  General McKenzie took a deep breath, working to control his rising anger. “You tell me that a dozen men are defeated by two shooters? And they killed nine of you?” There was no answer. “Get out of my sight.”

  McKenzie looked at his officers. “Come with me,” he said in an angry voice.

  Taking the men aside he began to lash into them. “What the hell kind of training are you doing with these men? A dozen men can’t take out two snipers? Hell, they could have just charged them as a group. We might have only three walk back, but the snipers would be dead. Now they’re still out there.”

  His chief lieutenant spoke up. “They may have gone up against military trained men. They’re obviously effective snipers. Most of our men haven’t seen combat. This is new to them. If the snipers had split up, they could have flanked our men and just picked them off.” He paused to gauge the general’s reaction, then continued. “If they’re good woodsmen, our men may not have been able to pin them down.”

  McKenzie snorted in disgust. “Pin them down, hell he said they never saw them. What kind of force have you given me?”

  “I can assure you, General, this group can fight. Give them a conventional battle, with the artillery softening up the enemy, the tank leading, and they’ll charge and shoot and do what is needed to take ground.”

  “I’ll have to reserve judgement on that for now. I hope you’re right,” he looked around at the assembled officers, “for all your sakes. After this is over, I’m doing a top-down review of our combat readiness. I’d hate to go up against a well-trained militia with men like that.”

  He stomped off to check on the truck. It hadn’t been able to be fixed and the supplies it carried were being loaded into one of the trucks that had carried troops. Those men would have to walk and fewer marchers would be given some rest throughout the day.

  General McKenzie assembled his tank commander and the drivers and gunners of the APCs and Humvees. He had three Humvees left with machine guns. Two were .50 caliber, the other one was 7.62 caliber.

  “These snipers are still out there. We know they’ll repeat th
eir attacks. We can’t continue to go a couple of miles and then get stopped for another two hours. We have to keep going. We know they’re operating from across the river, to our right. So, we’ll position our armored vehicles on the right side of the convoy. Each making sure you cover a transport truck. I want an APC next to each truck. The men will march in the median which is mostly below the roadway, so they’ll be protected.”

  He walked back and forth as the plan clarified in his mind. He was not going to let two snipers stop his heavily armed convoy.

  “Gunners, you keep your weapons trained to the hills on the right. I want spotters to locate the sniper fire immediately and I want all my gunners to light up that spot. If we do this right, they’ll only get one round of shots in before we shut them down.”

  “Our weapons didn’t take them out before, how do we know we can do it now?” The tank’s commander asked.

  McKenzie glared at the man. “We may take them out, we may not. The point is that we shut them down and keep going. If we’re not stopping for a couple of hours, they can’t keep pace with us and we’ll leave them behind.”

  “What about the abandoned cars? We’re going to be two wide now, not single file.”

  “We clear only when we have to. We go around. If there’s one lane, the armored vehicles will move off the road to let the trucks go through the gap. Just keep yourselves alongside as cover. If the trucks get stuck, the troops will push them. No stops from now on, understand?”

  Everyone nodded.

  “Catherine,” Jason called out after the attackers had fled down the hill. “You all right?”

  “I’m okay, you?”

  “Yeah.” Jason walked towards her voice.

  “You did great,” he said when they met.

  “I remembered what you always said. Wait for them to make the move, to expose themselves…and to retreat, not get trapped. Do you think we’ve stopped them?”

  “No,” Jason shook his head. “They’ll keep coming. We should get into a new position. This time they’ll be expecting us and we’ll have to be careful of another attack from the woods.”