Rescue: Book 3 in the After the Fall series

by David Nees

  The backpack laid between his legs. He reached down and gently pulled the zipper. Inside, his hands found the block of explosive and pulled it out. He unwrapped the mylar film and reached over to the track and roller. Working by feel, with only a dim view of his objective, he pushed the block against the roller wheel and pressed the rest of it on the track. The explosive could be molded to the surface. The block had sticky tape on one side to help it adhere when put in place. After some pushing and prodding Billy was satisfied that charge was not going to fall off.

  Next, he reached in his bag to find the detonator. As his hand found the device, he heard footsteps approaching. Billy froze, his hand in the pack. A man walked to the front of the tank, reached up and Billy saw his legs disappear as he climbed onto the tank. He could now hear the man’s steps above him. Metal clanged as the man opened the hatch.

  “Whatcha’ doing?” A sentry called out.

  “Getting a smoke. Left it inside.”

  “You got smokes?”

  “Home made. Met a guy got some tobacco curing in his barn. He sold me some leaves. Rolled my own.”

  “Any good?”

  “Strong as hell. Don’t take but half a smoke you’ve had enough. Still it ain’t bad.”

  “You get me some?”

  “If you got some money.”

  “Shit. Not with me.”

  “You come see me when we get back.”

  “Yeah. If we ever get this fiasco over with.”

  “It ain’t so bad. We scared them off each time they ambushed us.”

  “Easy for you to say. You’re all snug in your bullet proof cabin. We’re out in the open, taking fire. Some of my buddies got killed already and we ain’t even got to town.”

  “We’ll get this done.”

  Billy heard a slap against the metal.

  “This baby will teach ‘em a lesson.”

  “Hope you’re right.”

  “You keep a sharp eye out. I’m going back to sleep after I get my smoke.”

  The sentry didn’t answer. Probably pissed the tank guy wouldn’t share his smokes. Billy waited for another ten minutes. He guessed the tankman was sitting there enjoying his cigarette, showing off for the sentry. Finally, the man jumped down right next to the wheel where Billy had planted the charge. He walked back into the camp area.

  Billy realized he had been holding his breath when the crewman started to get off the tank. His hand grasped the detonator again and he pulled it out. He pressed the device into the explosive. The next step was more difficult.

  Billy pulled the reel of wire out of the pack. It slipped as he was setting it to one side and dropped on the ground with a soft thud. His heart jumped. He didn’t move. His ears probed around him for any signs of discovery, but the sentries didn’t seem to have heard. Careful. He found the stripped ends of the wire and wrapped them tightly around the wire leads.

  Now to get out. Billy felt around the block, assuring himself it was tightly in place. He hadn’t figured out how he would retrace his path, unrolling the wire, without being heard or seen. He needed to anchor the wire in place somehow, to lower the risk of pulling it off the leads as he was unreeling.

  He shrugged along the ground on his back. At the front of the tank, Billy, pushed the wire partly under the tank tread, leaving a lot of slack in it from there to the detonator. The tread would be his anchor point. He put his pack back on. It was flatter now without the wire reel and C-4. He held the wire reel in front of him and, using his elbows, proceeded to crawl ahead, letting the wire unroll and trail beneath him.

  His arms began to ache, his shoulders were on fire from holding the reel off the ground. Can’t do this all the way back. Muscles’ll sieze up. When he had gone ten yards, he had to lay the reel down and let his muscles relax. When he started to move again, he rolled the reel a foot, crawled forward over the wire, and repeated the motion. Over and over, he continued, stopping every ten feet for a moment to listen. Facing away from the camp, he had no eyes on the sentries and his back itched in anticipation of a bullet. He could only listen and hope no sound had disturbed them. Thankfully the wind was still blowing, giving him some background noise to mask the slight amount he knew he was making.

  An hour later, Billy went over the crossover berm and worked his way down on the far side. He stopped. He was drenched in sweat and exhausted. He rolled on his back. There was still a hundred feet more to pay out on the reel but Billy felt the berm would give him good protection. Better to set it off here. I got some cover. After the blast I can crawl away or run into the woods. He thought about Lori Sue. She would be proud of him. He had managed to plant the charge and would be a hero for the town. There was sadness in his thoughts as well. She wouldn’t be there to share his success.

  He shook his head as if to clear it of such thoughts and reached into his jacket for the ear plugs that Rodney had given him. He uncoiled the rest of the spool and pulled the two ends apart. Next, he took out the battery board and laid it carefully down on the ground. Taking one of the wires, he wrapped it to the negative post. Then he put the board in front of him and lay on his right side. He stretched out his left hand and maneuvered the board so the positive post was within reach of his right hand. He took the second wire and placed it in his right hand.

  With his left hand over his left ear, his right ear pressed up against his right arm, Billy took a deep breath, let it out, and pinched the wire to the positive post.

  The explosion erupted. The shock wave flashed over him as it ripped down the median. Shards of metal and dirt flew past and landed beyond him. Billy’s ears rang. He raised his head to take a look. As his ears began to recover, he could hear shouts. The two forward sentries were not standing. He guessed they had been knocked down by the blast. Men were running around in confusion.

  Billy left everything behind except his camouflage netting and did a fast crawl to the road’s edge. Get to the woods, then you can run for your life. He couldn’t make himself continue to crawl down the median. The wire would be discovered and they would follow it. He crawled across the pavement, not worried about noise this time. When he reached the shoulder of the road, he started down the side in a crouch.

  A shout went up from the camp. Billy didn’t know if he had been spotted, but he broke into a full run to the cover of the trees. Some shots rang out behind him, then he was in the woods and climbing. He discarded the netting and flew up the slope by feel and instinct, crashing through the thickets when he couldn’t dodge them. It was dark, but that would help him. Halfway up the slope, he turned south and traversed the hillside, When he reached a swale, he turned back uphill and gained the top. Now he fairly flew through the deeper woods with the sounds diminishing behind him.

  Chapter 53

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  I n the camp, Kevin and Rodney looked at one another when they heard the blast.

  “He did it,” Kevin said.

  “Yeah. We better keep a watch out for him. Hopefully he got out of there and is on his way back.” Rodney went over to one of the militia men and sent him to tell the lookouts to watch for Billy.

  Billy’s dash through the woods was not quiet. He only slowed down when he felt he was getting closer to the camp. As he walked in the general direction of the camp, a voice called out to him to identify himself. After saying his name, a guard appeared and led Billy back into the camp.

  Everyone crowded around him slapping him on the back and congratulating him. Kevin and Rodney came up.

  “Well done,” Kevin said. He grabbed Billy by the shoulders and gave him a hug.

  Rodney smiled and put his arm around him. “That must have been tough. You were gone a long time. We didn’t hear anything and worried that you had been caught or something.”

  “It was slow going, but that’s what you got to do when you’re stalking. Can’t hurry. About the hardest thing I ever done.” He paused for a moment. “No, it is the hardest thing I’ve done.”

  He l
ooked around. “They were following me. They saw me running into the woods. I just wanted to get the hell out of there after the explosion. Didn’t try to sneak away.”

  Clayton sent some of his men to go out and watch for any pursuing militia. Kevin ordered the campfires doused and everyone packed up their gear. They would retreat and not engage the enemy. He didn’t want a firefight at night against possibly superior numbers.

  “We’ll get out of here and check on the damage in the morning. They’ll be figuring out their next move tomorrow as well,” Kevin said.

  “They gonna go back now?” Billy asked.

  “If the blast took out the tank, they won’t want to try to go up against us. They’ve lost a lot of men and equipment. They won’t have any advantage in weapons now and we’d have a large force waiting for them at Hillsboro.”

  “Hope you’re right,” Billy said. He was suddenly very tired and sat down right in the middle of the huddle of men.

  “Don’t relax too much. We’ll be bugging out shortly,” Rodney said. He smiled at the young man. “You did good tonight. That was a tough mission.”

  Billy looked up and nodded. “Thanks.”

  The blast woke both Jason and Catherine.

  “Wait here,” Jason said and, taking his rifle and binoculars, he headed through the woods towards the highway. To the north he could see the convoy encampment. Fires were lit and someone had made a couple of torches. Jason could see men in the torchlight standing around the tank. Did someone try to blow up the tank? It looked fine from his vantage point. Maybe damaged the track? If that had been accomplished, Kevin’s team might have won the battle.

  He raced back to Catherine who was sitting up against a tree.

  “Kevin’s team may have disabled the tank. That could have been the explosion we heard. People in the camp are standing around it. I can’t tell any more from this distance.”

  “That might mean the end of the threat,” Catherine said.

  “You’re right about that. If you can walk, we should get moving. We can get a little farther south and closer to the highway. If they turn around, we’ll go down and try to find our car when it gets light.”

  “If they don’t?”

  “We keep walking. We’re not part of the battle anymore.”

  The blast shook General McKenzie out of his sleep. The shock wave almost blew his tent over and pieces of metal flew over his head. He untangled himself and stumbled to his feet, grabbing at his rifle. His ears were ringing. Men were coming out of other tents, from under the vehicles and looking around in a dazed fashion.

  “Get the fires lit,” McKenzie shouted. “Wrap some sticks in cloth and make some torches. We have to see what happened.”

  “Sir,” his lieutenant said, running up to him. “The tanks been hit.”

  “What?” The officer repeated his words. McKenzie started for the M60. When he got there, someone brought up a torch. From the light they could see the blown-out track and wheel assembly. One wheel was completely shattered and the adjacent one was hanging on a broken axle with part of the rim broken out. The track was ripped apart. When the tank moved, if it could move, it would ride off the track. It was going nowhere. Fifty tons of intimidating power and invincibility, made useless. There was no way he could repair the damage, even if he had a spare track, the rollers were too damaged to function. He turned away, cursing.

  Some of his men opened fire. They reported a figure was ducking into the woods to the south. McKenzie sent out a dozen men to pursue and then turned back to the camp. He ordered men to take up their rifles and form a defensive line along the flanks of the camp. The tank and APC crews were sent to their machines to man their guns. The camp was on full alert for an attack.

  McKenzie didn’t think an attack would occur, but he had to be prepared. His rage grew along with his frustration. The fighters had been able to sneak into camp, plant an explosive, and get away. Their goal had been to take out his superior firepower. They didn’t need to engage. They had stopped him.

  He ordered his lieutenant to round up the sentries. He would make examples of them for being so lax. As the men were assembled, all standing around nervously, someone came up and reported finding the wire. They had followed it and discovered the reel, backpack, and battery board.

  McKenzie looked at the evidence. The intruder had been smart. He had assumed no one would expect someone coming from the median; that the focus would be on a threat coming from the woods. And he had been correct.

  When daylight came, McKenzie walked down the median. The trail left by the sapper was easy to see in the daylight. He walked to its origin. The bomber had crawled almost a mile in the median. McKenzie marveled at the commitment.

  Now he had to face the unpleasant reality. His heavy weapons had been neutralized. He had lost nearly a hundred men. He now had only rifle men and machine guns. He still had three APCs which had grenade launchers and machine guns. They could carry a few men in them but at closer range they would be vulnerable to rocket launchers which could destroy the wheels even if they couldn’t penetrate the armor. Now he would face Hillsboro’s defenses with no clear, advantage. His threats would ring hollow.

  “Turn the men around,” McKenzie said to his lieutenant.

  “Sir?”

  “You heard me, we’re going back.”

  The man started to respond, but a look from the general stilled him. He began to issue orders. The tank and the howitzers would be left. The general would be going home in disgrace. The convoy was subdued as it started back to Knoxville.

  Both Jason and the other defenders heard the machines running. Kevin sent a man to see what was going on. He reported back that the convoy was heading north, back to Knoxville.

  When the heard the convoy depart, Jason and Catherine went down to the highway and tried to figure out where they were in relation to the car they had left. Catherine guessed it was a few miles still to the south. They began walking, enjoying the easier path the road presented. If necessary, Jason figured he could rig a traverse and pull Catherine back to town.

  Later they found the car and started out. Shortly, they ran into Kevin’s men. There was a joyous reunion. Catherine was attended to with a change of dressing. She was given an injection of morphine and Jason went off with an additional guard while Catherine lay down in the back seat to try to sleep. Jason smiled. They had prevailed and he would have her at the hospital that evening. Kevin and the other fighters would arrive two days later.

  Chapter 54

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  T hree days after returning to Hillsboro the mayor convened a city council meeting. Jason and Kevin were called on to testify and fill the council members in on what had happened. The two related their stories to a rapt group. Kevin had to sadly report that their actions had resulted in the deaths of fourteen fighters with an additional thirty-three wounded. The battle had been successful but at a high price.

  When they were done reporting the council was silent. Tom Warner, the acting mayor finally spoke.

  “I think we can all say we are grateful for the brave service of these volunteers. We also grieve with the families for those who gave their lives defending our city. There is always a cost to defend freedom and to keep our ourselves safe from tyrants.”

  Raymond Culver interrupted Tom’s hesitant comments. “Tom, if I may speak, I have a few words to add.”

  Tom sighed. He nodded to Ray but hoped this wouldn’t devolve into a political fight. It didn’t seem very fitting in light of the loss of life.

  Raymond stood, looking somber. “I too grieve for the families of those killed. It is sad that we still have no law and order beyond our city, no higher authority to keep something like this from happening.” His voice slipped into professor mode.

  “While the volunteers acquitted themselves honorably and protected us, we should not forget what triggered this incident. Jason Richards’ impetuous actions to kidnap the leader of Knoxville in order to free two
prisoners rather than pay their fines. Their uncivilized actions caused this convoy to head our way. We don’t know what their ultimate intention was. We do know that we may have declared war on them. A war that has already cost us, by Cameron’s own count, fourteen lives…and who knows how many lives on the other side?”

  “Ray, what is your point? You are going over old ground that we already covered,” Tom said.

  “My point, Mr. Mayor,” Ray said with some sharpness in his voice, “is that we seem to be led by two men who want to act according to their own wishes. Men in positions of power who act on their own and then expect this council to approve their actions after the fact. I am not comfortable with that and I would hope most of the other council members aren’t either.

  “We need to exert more clear control over these positions and rethink whether or not Mr. Cameron is fit for the position of Police Chief which carries with it the duties to lead the militia in defense of our city.”

  He sat down. The audience stirred with whispered comments. Other council members spoke to one another.

  “This is neither the time nor place to take up such action. Any proposed motion or bill can be worked up and brought before the council in future meetings. I’m sure you can make that happen,” Tom said. His voice betrayed his distaste for Raymond’s comments.

  A hand went up in the audience. “Mr. Mayor, may I make a comment? I think I’m uniquely positioned to add to this conversation.” It was Helen Chambers, the woman that Jason and Clayton had rescued.

  Tom nodded to the woman who rose from her seat.

  “As I spoke before, I was rescued from a horrible experience as a captive of a gang of four men. The council member who wants to push these two men aside and seems to disapprove of the recent actions, does not have, in my estimation, a clear view of what it is like out there beyond our city.