Paul Kirk - Devastation Point

“And you weren’t mad? With all your training and combat experience?”

“No, ma’am. I coulda pulled rank, but I realized he’s dealt with this stuff a hundred times more than me—he could probably teach me half the stuff he knows and then I’d know twice what I know now. So, instead, I told him to do what he does best and keep us safe. His look turned serious, ma’am.”

“You sure respect that man, major.”

“Yes, ma’am, I do. He’s a force of nature, colonel. And when you put the three of ’em together, they’re unstoppable.”

“I know. Now you can understand why it was so important to recruit them last year.”

“Yes, ma’am. I apologize again for my frustration back then.”

“Major, I’m simply reminding you that I do have some insight into this game. It doesn’t mean that I don’t value your more cautious approach.”

“Yes, colonel, I know.”

“Let’s go.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

The Superhawk was loaded to near capacity and lifted heavily from the ground. Keenan and his men sat in the far rear of the cabin, stuffed in fairly tight and accepting that they wouldn’t garner premium seats on the ride, but excited about flying. The lack of man-made objects in the air for the last five years had led most to think manned flight was no longer possible.

Scott’s repetitive message on the radio began a few miles into their trip. “This is Hawk One, do you copy for extraction team?” Scott waited a few seconds and repeated the message. GT reset a stopwatch to repeat the process in one-minute intervals.

Amanda leaned back into her seat, letting Scott’s smooth voice soothe her mind. It was hypnotic and she found its repetitiveness pleasing. He would have made an excellent deejay.

The helicopter continued its journey north, skimming the treetops east of and parallel to Route 51. All occupants scanned the terrain for signs of movement. They were within a few miles of Perryopolis when Shamus spotted something. “Ma’am, there’s black smoke about two miles northwest. It’s a hot fire. Large and likely burning rubber.”

“Yes, I see it, Professor. Increase your altitude and cut across those fields to it. Be quick but cautious.”

“Yes, ma’am. Do you think that’s wise, colonel?”

“Be as careful as you can, Professor. We need to check on that smoke—it might be our men.”

“Yes, ma’am. Understood.” Shamus leaned the collector to the left and veered off tracking Route 51 and made a beeline across the meadows and trees to locate the source of the smoke. They crested a small ridge and Major O’Malley and Colonel Starkes used their binoculars to scan the area. Suddenly, Shamus veered the helicopter sharply to the left—apparently, he didn’t like what he had seen.

“What’s the problem, Professor?” asked the colonel.

“There’s some bad shit out there, ma’am,” he answered. He had seen something the other’s hadn’t yet caught.

“Where?” asked Major O’Malley.

“Phoenix was there, ma’am. And not too long ago, I think.” He turned the hovering helicopter slowly to face the plume of smoke head on and slowly began gaining altitude. When the bird had gained enough height, they caught sight of the devastation about a thousand yards away.

“What is it?” asked Colonel Starkes. Her eyes were not nearly as sharp as those of Shamus and she had no training to evaluate landmarks or military activity from the air. GT and Scott maneuvered in the bay area for a better position.

Shamus described what he saw over the intercom. “Listen up,” he said. “A battle skirmish just went down on Route 51. Explosives were in play. Looks like it happened in the last few hours. I repeat, a skirmish on Route 51 with explosives.”

“Phoenix’s army was here, ma’am,” said Major O’Malley.

“I see the evidence,” said the colonel.

“What are your orders, ma’am?” asked Shamus over the intercom.

Colonel Starkes studied the scene through her binoculars. There was a large cluster of dead men and horses surrounding a smoking hole immediately beyond an overpass south of Perryopolis. The men and horses had been left where they died, as if someone was in a hurry to leave. Perryopolis was not too far north from their position and smoke was seen billowing from the approximate location of the town. Based on the size of the explosion that had occurred past the overpass and the smoke coming from the town in the distance, the colonel suspected Perryopolis was likely burnt to the ground and the occupants dead.

“Somebody got that asshole’s attention,” she said.

Major O’Malley focused his binoculars on the scene near the overpass. From what he could tell, the dead men looked naked and were stripped of most useful items of clothing and boots. There were no weapons lying about. The unlucky men in the immediate vicinity of the eighteen-wheelers perished in a whirlwind explosion. “Colonel, there’s about two dozen dead men down there and maybe a dozen or so horses.”

“I must say, it’s very nice to see evidence that Phoenix’s ranks are continuing to be thinned out a little at a time. I expect, by the colonel and our men. ”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Professor?”

“Yes, ma’am?”

“Where’s Phoenix’s army? Shouldn’t we have seen him?”

“Ma’am, based on the freshness of that explosion aftermath, and the fact that we cut across the fields to get here, I estimate his army is on Route 51 in the four or five mile section that we just bypassed. We just missed ’em, ma’am.”

“Damn!” said the major, “Ma’am, do you wanna go back down Route 51 to come up on him and engage?”

“No, not yet, major.”

“Ma’am? Our men are most likely ahead of him and running their asses off.”

“True, major. And they’re doing a pretty damn good job of making Phoenix’s life quite miserable. They can hold their own for a while longer, major.”

“Ma’am?”

“Major. I want some hard intel as to what we’re getting into here. I want confirmation. It’s possible the colonel and our team may have simply diverted and hunkered down to wait for the extraction tomorrow. There are too many options to consider. We can’t assume the colonel’s ahead of that army at this point.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

“Based on the extent of the explosion, ma’am, that’d be the last of the C-4 carried by our team,” said GT.

“Good point, GT,” said Shamus. “Whoever planted those explosives knew what he was doing. My guess is it was Mickey or Daubney.”

“True. I hafta agree,” said Major O’Malley.

Colonel Starkes smiled as her men commiserated as to the projected battle plans and outcome. “Take us around this mess, Professor. We need to see Perryopolis—I want to find out what happened there. I need some realtime data. Make a loop. Approach the town from the north.”

“Yes, ma’am.” Shamus maneuvered the helicopter expertly to a heading directly west and drifted north before he dropped altitude to the treetops and came upon Perryopolis.

The colonel held her binoculars pressed hard to her eyes. She was worried about the fate of the small community, thinking the town’s occupants may have met an unpleasant end. “The town’s probably burned to the ground.”

“We’ll see in a few minutes, ma’am.”

“Lieutenant Wahlberg?” asked the colonel.

“Yes, ma’am?”

“How many people did you say are in Perryopolis?”

“About two hundred, ma’am.”

Major O’Malley leaned toward the colonel. She removed her headset so their conversation would remain unheard. “Our men are most likely the cause of what went on at that overpass, ma’am—are you sure you want to check out this town first?”