David Golemon - Primeval

"You crashed, Mr. Ryan. So, tell me how in the hell that makes you a friend?" Jack asked, only half jokingly.

"Now, how did you get into the tree line?" Everett asked as he assisted a limping Ellenshaw to the ground, relieving Mendenhall and Ryan of their burden.

"Well, Will and myself took an 'E' ticket ride in what was left of the cockpit, skidding along the water, and then rolling to beat all hell onto the riverbank and then into the forest. Thank God for seatbelts." Ryan kneeled, still shaking from their ordeal.

Mendenhall leaned down and patted Ellenshaw on the back, making a sloppy wet sound as he did.

"As for the doc here, we found him playing dead about a hundred feet away from us." They all looked at Ellenshaw: He had lost his hat, his thick wire-rimmed glasses were bent so out of shape that one earpiece was dangling down the side of his face, and his hair looked at if a bird had started putting a nest in it.

"I most assuredly thought I was dead, Lieutenant," Charlie said as he removed his bent glasses and then covered his eyes. "That was a horrendous way to land a plane, I must say."

Jack was grateful everyone was alive. He looked at the river and saw no sign of the wreckage. The Grumman and all of their supplies would wind up in Vancouver by the end of the week. He took a deep breath and looked around. The store looked as if it had taken gunfire — the icehouse next to it was leaking what could only be liquid hydrogen from several gaping gaps in its woodwork. There wasn't any movement or other signs of life from the fishing camp and Jack feared the worse for the people here.

"Well, let's go see what those people were doing here, and if they left anyone alive."

Jack, Everett, and Punchy Alexander moved separately into the open, spread out as far as possible to make sniping at them a singular event. Carl was the first to come to one of the four bodies that lay crumpled on the stony ground nearest the river. Everett rolled the body over on its right side, bending over and retrieving the AK-47 from the man's frozen grasp. He slung the weapon over his right shoulder and then turned and felt the neck for a pulse. The bearded face was frozen in shock and the eyes were wide open. The captain was getting ready to continue on when he saw that one of the bullets that had struck the dead man had hit him in the upper left arm, exposing something colorful underneath. Tearing away some of the material, Carl quickly wiped away the blood from the bullet wound and then exhaled deeply. Just under the hole where the 5.62 millimeter round had entered the arm, there was a tattoo. A red hammer and cycle, the old Soviet state symbol — only this one had a gold lightning bolt running through it. Everett released the arm and then looked around at the other bodies, betting they all had the same markings.

"Jack," Carl called out, halting Collins in his tracks. "Check the upper left arm of that body."

Collins, who had just checked the dead man at his feet for a pulse and then picked up the AK-47 and chambered a new round into its breech, leaned down and tore the camouflage fatigue at the shoulder. The material ripped away revealing a hammer and sickle, complete with a gold lightning bolt.

"What the bloody hell is it?" Punchy asked a few feet away as he kept a wary eye on their surroundings.

"Spetsnaz," Jack said looking around him, more appreciative of the enemy they had faced. "Old school; tattoos are from the old Soviet days."

"What in the hell are Russian commandos doing here?" Alexander asked, becoming even more aware of his surroundings and now feeling far more vulnerable than he had just a second before.

Jack didn't answer Punchy's question; he straightened and then continued toward the general store. He stopped a moment and looked back at Ryan and Mendenhall. They were huddled with the others just inside the tree line. Mendenhall held the only M-16 in the group and was watching the riverbank to their rear. Collins gestured to Ryan and made a trigger movement with his finger, indicating that he should relieve the other two dead men of their weapons. Ryan understood and sprinted from the trees toward the remaining bodies.

Alexander was still thinking about the Spetsnaz and the rumors of their capabilities. As an intelligence officer, he had run up against the newer versions of the commando group, but most Western nations knew them to be a ghost of their former selves, sloppy and inefficient compared to the old fellas from two decades ago. He looked at Jack and saw that the element of the Spetsnaz hadn't made a dent in his hastiness to hurry their group along. He shook his head and followed Collins.

The colonel quickly went straight for the large front steps of the general store, waving as he did for Everett to go left and check the icehouse. Punchy Alexander followed Collins onto the large front porch and then to the left side of the open door as Jack went to the right of the still closed one. They immediately saw two bodies and Punchy recognized the green uniforms. He mouthed the word "Mounties." Collins took a shallow breath, shaking his head at the horrendous murder of more men, and then before his thoughts wandered even more about life's injustices, he quickly reached out and opened the door. A small bell chimed and Collins grimaced: He knew mistakes like that cost men their lives, and he had just made one of the biggest. He looked at Punchy who was standing there smiling and rolling his eyes.

"I told you we were getting too old for this, but then again, I didn't think about that, either."

"For whom the bell tolls," Jack whispered and then before he could think about it, went inside and then quickly to one knee as he scanned the interior of the large store. Alexander followed just a second later taking aim at the higher points of the store.

Collins didn't see any movement as he slowly scanned the area to his front. Then he stood and gestured for Punchy to take the left side of the store, and he would take the right. The counter area is where he would have set up the initial stages of any ambush, so that was the first place he looked. He slowly lay down and then rolled silently toward the closest end. He saw a can of pork and beans lying on the floor that had fallen from a small display case after the glass from the plate-glass window had struck it. Jack closed his eyes as he easily reached the can, not daring to take a breath. He picked up the red and white labeled can and then opened his eyes, and then pulling it back as if it were a grenade, he eased it through the air until it struck the counter at the far end. As it did, he rolled the rest of the way around the far end of the counter and quickly aimed — nothing. Collins stood and shook his head at Punchy, who returned the gesture. Then he turned and looked to where Collins was looking.

Straight ahead was a large steel door of the walk-in freezer or refrigerator. Jack could hear the hum of the motor as it engaged. He also saw there were two clean round holes where two bullets had punched through it. Collins raised the AK-47 and pointed it at the door and advanced. Punchy kept his M-16 pointed at the upper floors of the store where he suspected the owners living quarters to be. It was another great ambush spot.

Jack reached the door and stood to the right side next to the large handle. He reached out and pulled on it.

"If you open that door, we'll kill your man," came a girl's voice.

"Go ahead and kill him, he's not our man." Jack grimaced, hoping beyond measure he had responded the way he should have. "We killed his companions outside."

"I'm not falling for that bullshit, you want him dead. Just try me, you Russian prick!"

Jack looked over at Alexander who was watching from a distance, he shrugged his shoulders, as if saying Jack was on his own on this one.